


All's Fair in Love and Roommates

by 1_Hazi_1



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Collage, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Modern Era, Roommates, Strangers to Friends, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 66,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1_Hazi_1/pseuds/1_Hazi_1
Summary: Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck begin to attend one of the most world-renowned schools, Hunter University. Gon is looking for adventure and friends, while Killua's there to escape his family, so what happens when the happy-go-lucky Gon gets roomed with the silver-tongued Killua?
Relationships: Gon Freecs & Killua Zoldyck, Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck
Comments: 6
Kudos: 115





	1. Chapter 1

Forcing the memories to the back of my mind, I lug two duffel bags on my shoulders, a guitar case slung across my back, and a guitar amp in my hand, refusing to look over at the lanky, emotionless figure at my side. It doesn't take much for me to begin making my way towards the dorms, wanting to get the moving done and over with.

The whole campus is old looking, the old red brick buildings and large wooden doors, but, somehow, modern. You can see the advance technology placed around the grounds, whether it's the impressive statues or the security cameras watching over.

I shove open the door the dorms with little effort, cringing slightly at the sound it's made across the marble floor.

A whistle exits my mouth as I glance around the main hall of the dorm, catching the attention of a few other students and the person at the front desk. Ignoring the glances, I saunter to the front desk.

"Hi, how may I help you?" asks a guy, who looks more like a girl in my opinion, but I'm no one to judge.

"Hey, I need to find my room, which means I'll probably need a key," I respond, offering my usual blank face.

All I received as a nod before he turned to the computer on his left, "I'll need a name."

"Killua,"

"I'm assuming I don't need a last name then," he chuckles to himself, before typing some stuff and clicking with my mouse. I can't help but notice the slight smile that paints his face while he grabs a pair of keys and hands them to me.

Glancing at him for a quick second, I take the keys, eyes never leaving him. Returning my stare, he offered something like a sympathetic smile, "Your room is room 504. Once you get there, on the counter there will be a list of all the rules, along with a map of campus and a small care package. Also, if you need anything, just ask for me seeing as I am the dorm manager, my name is Kurapika Kurta. Welcome to Hunter University."

I walk away, trying to distinguish what the look he gave me meant, almost forgetting that Illumi was standing beside me.

"What's wrong, Kilu? You seem troubled. You know, you can always bail out and join the other universities that mother and father have lined up for you," Illumi stated, his emotionless voice reaching my ears, causing me to shiver.

Without bothering to look at him, I began to climb the stairs to the fifth floor. "I'm fine, just thinking."

I hear a hum come from Illumi, whose carrying two more of my duffel bags, which aren't nearly as full as they look. "I suppose anyone would be nervous about their first day at such a revered school. I did expect you to attend it, I just never thought it'd be for music courses," Illumi spits out the last part, but I continue to trudge on, wanting to get him out of here as soon as possible.

"I have to say that we were all quite shocked to hear that you had an interest in such things, Kilu. We knew you were in the school band and were quite good, but never knew you'd get accepted into this school for something like that. But, I suppose, we can't help it..."

Illumi was rambling, well, in his way. It was more like he thought the more he talked, the more chance he'd have of getting me to quit. That's how it used to work, but not anymore. I just took a deep breath and tuned out before rounding the corner to tackle the next flight, which would be the last flight I needed to climb.

I could hear some voices, probably from the other students who were moving in as well, getting louder, much like it had done on the other floors, but this time there was one distinct voice I could hear. It was loud, really cheerful, and had a weird mix between a bass and tenor sound, more on the bass side than anything. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, feeling bad for whoever would get that guy for their roommate.

The door finally coming into sight, I skipped up the last few steps and opened the door, keeping it open for Illumi, who seemed to become even slower during the last flight.

Finally, Illumi stepped through the door and I reclaimed my spot in front, looking for my room which was the third door down on the right.

Key already in my hand, I put it on the doorknob and twisted, unlocking the door. Pushing open the door, I was greeted with a good-sized dorm, which could probably be called more of an apartment than anything. Once you walked in, there was a kitchen area with a small island in the middle, equipped with a microwave, toaster and coffee machine, along with the stove, fridge, and sink. Immediately after was a living room with a single couch and a chair, facing a tv. On both sides of the living room, on the side of the kitchen, there were two doors directly across from each other, with two other doors beside them.

It looked homey and comfortable, which I found to be comforting. As I set down my bags, I turned to Illumi, who was surveying the room with a spiteful look.

"You can go now. Thanks for helping me carry the stuff up," Which I could have done myself, I left that unsaid, knowing he'd press and an argument that could last forever.

"No need to mention it. Are you sure you're all good, Kilu?"

"Definitely."

"Okay then, I'll be on my way. Be sure to check in once and a while," he ruffled up my hair, which I grimaced at, before he placed my bags on the ground and left, closing the door behind him.

Air rushed out from a breath I didn't know I was holding in, and I looked around the place once more. Very bright, a lot of calming colors, obviously meant to be there to stimulate a learning environment.

Making my way to the counter, I look at the sheets of paper and began to read. It was the same old boring stuff, welcome to the school, no pets allowed, be in dorms by midnight, etc. The small care package just turned out to be a tin of coffee grounds and a few coupons to the school cafeteria.

"Boring," I mumbled before taking another look around the room. It was obvious someone had already been here, inside the living room some bags and boxes were laying around, so I decided to do the same, setting my bags down on the island before making my way over to the living room to figure out the TV.

It was a Saturday, and classes didn't start until Monday, which gave all the students two days to settle in. Another perk of HU, I suppose.

I picked up the remote and began to figure out all the settings, which didn't take long since the instructions were still there and intact. I scrolled through, not finding anything that was worth my while, I turned the TV off and went over to grab my guitar case.

Opening up the case, I pick up the guitar and brought it over to the couch, pulling out my phone and opening a tuning app. Starting with the E string, I began the process of tuning, knowing that the different weather here would have caused it to go out a tune, which I was right in assuming.

Spending about a minute on each string, I finally get to the final string, E. I start to tap my foot, anxious to begin playing a little bit before I have to start unpacking, but plans were interrupted by someone bursting through the door.

I look over, trying not to send a too pissed look there way, to see a guy around my age, with spiky blackish-green hair and really big brown eyes, the kind that people describe as doe eyes. He was extremely tanned like he had been living in the tropics all his life, and his body was tall and springy, but muscular at the same time. The expression on his face could only be described as pure joy, as his mouth stretched to the point it almost looked painful.

Then he spotted me. Our eyes locked and his smile dropped for a quick second, his eyes widening, before the smile reclaimed his face with a fierce force, looking a little bigger than the last one.

"Ahhhh, you must be my roommate," I instantly recognized his voice, placing it to the one I had heard earlier, the one I had felt sorry for whoever had him as a roommate. I was the roommate.

He rushed over, literally hurtling over the one chair and stuck out his hand. "My name's Gon Freecss. I majoring in Biology. What about you?"

To be honest, I was star struck. Not only was this guy loud and energetic but he was... hot.

Shaking my head slightly, I took his hand, trying not to let my guitar drop, "Killua. I major in Musical Studies."

Gon laughed then sat down beside me, "Figures. You seem to like that type of person, and you've also got a guitar, so it makes sense."

"You also seem like the biology type," I inserted, but regretted it because Gon gave me a puzzled look.

"Really? Most people think I'd be major in teaching or something that requires interacting with people," He says, while leaning back on the couch. "How you figure?"

Setting my guitar to the side, I turned to half face him, leaning against the armrest. "Well, unless you're passionate about biology, you can find it to be boring, so most biology majors don't end up attending HU. To add on, you've got some wild vibe, or whatever people call it, that just kind of screams nature freak. That's how I figure."

Gon thought for a few seconds before he began to nod then smiled my way. "That makes sense. Anyways, which room did you choose?"

"I didn't choose one," I informed him, picking up my guitar and putting it back in its case.

Trotting up to my side, Gon frowned with his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Because I wasn't sure what room you wanted. So, I decided to wait."

Gon laughed, then made his way towards his things. "You're nice, Killua."

I felt a heat race to my cheeks, but I pushed it away. "I'm not, I just did what anyone would do. Which one do you want?"

He was already looking in the room on the right side of the room. "If you don't mind, I think I'll take this room."

"Whatever's fine with me," I said before picking up my stuff and moving it into the other room.

There wasn't much in the room, just a double bed pushed up against one of the walls, a desk, and chair underneath one of the windows and a small dresser on the wall in front of the bed.

I placed my bag on the bed and opened it up, spilling its contents over the rest of the bed. I repeated the same process with the other three bags, then put my clothes on the dresser, books on top of the dresser and my guitar on it's stand in the corner by the dresser, my amp behind my guitar.

One hour, maybe less, is what I guessed it took me to put all my stuff away, so I decided to venture out to see what was inside of the fridge. The contents of the fridge weren't that much, just a meal for two people, which would be rice and chicken. Being the ambitious person I was, I went into the cupboards, in search of spices, and grabbed some garlic spice and olive oil. I put the rice in a rice-maker I came upon in my little search and began to prep the chicken. Looking back in the fridge, I found some soy sauce, which was about as adventurous as we were going to get.

Adding the garlic into the olive oil and spreading it across the chicken, I finally stuck it into the oven and waited. I wasn't much of a cook, but I could make the basic foods, which was all I needed.

"What smells so good?" I heard Gon ask while venturing into the room, coming to sit beside me at the island.

"Chicken and rice," I replied, not looking up from my phone, which had the pieces of music I needed to start working on for class.

Humming in satisfaction, Gon glanced over his shoulder. "Whatcha doin'?"

I shot him a glare. "You're noisy."

"And you're not answering my question. It looks like music,"

"Thank you Captain Obvious, I would've never guessed," my voice dripped with sarcasm, which caused Gon to laugh.

"I knew you were gonna be sarcastic,"

"So sue me," I mumbled before I slide the phone over to Gon. "This is the piece I need to play in class on Monday. It's the music score, which means I can choose to play any of the parts I want to."

"Really?! So, you can play all these instruments?"

I was about to hit him in the back of the head, but I held myself back, knowing that probably wasn't the best thing to do to a person you just meet. "No, idiot, I can't. There are very few people who can."

Gon nodded. "So what can you play?"

I had to pause to think because I had the basic understandings of a lot of instruments. "Well, I started on the guitar, then I played the piano, then the violin, trumpet, flute, clarinet, drums... let's just leave it at I can play quite a few."

"So, what are you going to play?" Gon asked, leaning forward, into my personal space, which caused a blush to rush to my face.

Hopping out of my seat, I made it look like I was going to check on the chicken, but I was just getting him out of my face. "I plan on playing the piano, but I need to find the music room tomorrow because I don't just have a piano on hand."

"I can show you where that is," Gon said, jumping from his chair and standing right beside me again, smiling like always. "I know Kurapika and a few others on campus and I've been here a few times before, so I know all where you'll want to go and all that. It'll be fun."

Rolling my eyes, I closed the oven, "What are you? Twelve?"

"That's mean, Killua," He whined, trying to glare at me, but it turned out to be more of a pout than anything. "I'm eighteen, for your information."

"Well, ditto," I said, sparing him a glance before grabbing the oven mitts. I pulled out the chicken, with Gon hanging over my shoulder.

He took a big sniff right next to my ear, which caused me to tense up and look at him, demanding an explanation.

"Oh, sorry. I've been told I don't have much of a concept of personal space, and I try to remind myself, but I just get caught in the moment. But the chicken smells really good. Did you use garlic?"

I didn't bother saying anything, it wouldn't have done me any good so I just mumbled thanks before I got out some plates. Loading my plate up, I began to walk over to the living room, where I turned on the TV.

I glanced over at Gon, who was making his way into his bedroom, without any food. "Hey!" I yelled at him, getting his attention, which looked shocked. "Why don't you have any food?"

He looked at me for a few seconds, then over at the food, then back at me. "You made some for me, too?"

"Yeah. What did you expect? Me to just dangle food in your face and not give you any?"

I don't think I saw anyone move as fast as he did, grabbing the food and throwing it on a plate, the running back over to the couch and sitting down on the other end, digging in as soon as he touched the couch. "Oh god, this is so good," Gon groaned as he ate food. "Thank you Killua. You're so nice."

Again, I blushed, but I attempted to hide my face behind my food. "I'm not nice."


	2. Chapter 2

the hat I could throw parties, so long as they never went into his room, then holed up in his room," Leorio jabbed a thumb towards the door. "He hasn't left since."  
I nodded, then sat at the island. "Well, maybe he just needs to warm up to you. You know that you're not the most approachable person on the planet. He was probably scared off by how old you look," I offered up.  
Leorio ran a hand down his face, a low groan exiting his mouth. "Jesus, Kurapika's wearing off on you, isn't he? I should've never introduced you two."  
I laughed. "Well, you might have to deal with three people tag-teaming on you. I plan on making my roommate a friend. It'll be awesome. I've always wanted to have a friend for a roommate."  
"What if it's a girl?" Leorio asked, raising his eyebrows in suggestion.  
I pushed his face, grimacing. "Ewe, Leorio, I wouldn't ever plan on doing that."  
"Ahh, you'll forever be that little middle schooler I met. Forever blind to the ways of the world," Leorio, stared off into space as if he was thinking about the good old days.  
"You're aging yourself, again, Leorio," A witty voice said from the doorway, where Kurapika leaned against the frame.  
"Why are you here? I thought I told you to be gone?" Leorio yelled, which caused me to laugh, again.  
"Calm yourself," Kurapika rolled his eyes, then pointed at me. "You're roommate came to a little while ago. I thought I'd let him settle in before he'd have to deal with you."  
"You're mean... wait, you said he's here!" I yelled and began to hop around the room, which probably pissed off the people underneath of Leorio.  
Kurapika nodded then stepped out of the way, allowing me the rush through the doorway towards my room. I couldn't help the smile that was claiming my face.  
I wanted to meet him, to get to know him, figure out some new things about this person. Would we be friends? Or would we be like Leorio and his roommate? I hoped it was the former.  
Coming to my door, I jammed my key into the door. I was so jittery that it took a few seconds for me to get the door open, but when I did, I pushed it open as hard as I could.  
I looked over at the kitchen then let my eyes wander across the room until the landing on a head of white hair sitting on the couch.  
I had to hold back the gasp that came up my throat, which caused me to drop my smile for a second, much to my dismay. The person in front of me had the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, an electric blue that swirled around like a thunderstorm. His hair was like a clouded and I didn't have the slightest doubt about whether his hair was a natural color or not because it looked at it. Though hunched over I could tell he was tall, not as tall as me, but tall, and you could see the muscle definition in his body, which had pale white skin covering it, riding off the sharp edges of his body.  
"Ahhh, you must be my roommate," I finally get out. I was to caught up in looking at him to realize that it was silent. He was just so... hot.

He just stared at me for a while longer, his gaze so intense, like he was trying to figure out every little thing about me.

Taking things into my own hands, I hurtled over the chair and held out a hand. "My name's Gon Freecss. I'm majoring in biology. What about you?"

That seemed to snap him out of his trance because he took my hand and offered something close to a smile. I finally got to see the object he was hunched over, a guitar, which he was holding like it was his lifeline. "Killua. I major in Musical Studies."

I couldn't help but laugh once I heard his voice. It sounds so calming and it made me want to release all my energy. It was relieving to hear that his talk. I was also laughing because I probably should've guessed he did something along the lines of music.

I sat down beside him, letting myself sink into the couch. "Figures. You seem to be that type of person, and you're also holding a guitar, so it makes sense."

"You also seem like the biology type," Killua said, looking at me from the corner of his eye. I could see that he kind of looked regretful for saying that, because to be honest, I wore my emotions on my sleeve, and when he said I looked like a biology studier, I was shocked.

"Really?" I asked, really wanting to know why. "Most people think I'd be majoring in teaching or something he requires interacting with people." All true. "How you figure?"

He put his guitar down and faced me as if he was preparing the explain the theory of the universe. That's how intense he looked and how hard he was thinking. "Well, unless you're passionate about biology, you can find it boring, so most biology majors don't end up attending HU. To add-on, you've got some wild vibe, or whatever people call it, that just kind of screams nature freak. That's how I figure."

I couldn't help but think. It all made sense and was all true. Biology was only for those who were extremely interested, just like all other sciences. BUt for Killua to figure out that it was just because I thought the science was cool but because I had some sort of connection with nature, that was amazing.

I smiled over at him. "That makes sense." Then another thought came up. "ANyways, what room did you choose?"

He picked up his guitar and stuck it in a case, by a small pile of stuff. "I didn't choose one."

Curious, I ran up to his side, not only looking at how little things he had but at the fact that he hadn't gone ahead and chosen a room like I had thought he would. "Why not?"

"Because I wasn't sure what room you wanted. So I decided to wait," Killua replied, standing up, not looking at me.

I couldn't help but laugh at how sheepish he was acting. "You're nice, Killua," I said. Of course, when I said it, I was expecting a thank you, which was what most people would do. But I could see Killua's cheeks turn the slightest bit of pink, then he turned his face away. But that wasn't all the shocked me.

"I'm not, I just did what anyone would do. Which one do you want?" He asked, changing the topic in an instant. I wanted to inform him that, actually, no, not many people would want to ask what room their roommate would want most people to show up earlier just so they could get the better room.

I moved towards the room on the right side, just for the sake of it, then turned to Killua, who was watching me. "If you don't mind, I think I'll take this one."

"Whatever fine with me," He said, then picked up his stuff and went into his room.

I watched him disappear into the room, making a mental note to ask him why he had so little things. Four duffel bags, that didn't even look full, a guitar and an amp. That's it. I had three big boxes and at least four suitcases of stuff, and I thought that that wasn't a lot.

Pushing it away, I started to move my things into my room. Killua did seem to be a puzzle. He was quiet, but I could tell that he was witty, he just wasn't showing it. By the way, he carried himself, I could tell. He was kind of like Kurapika in that way.

I took out some photo's of my with Kon, the dog I had back on Whale Island, some pictures of me with Mito-san and my Grandmother, then some photo's of me with people I've met while traveling.

My clothes weren't all that fancy, just the bare minimum, and a few extra tanks. I pulled out my textbooks, groaning at the thought of having to tackle my mind around those on Monday.

Biology, I loved it, but, sometimes, I wasn't exactly the brightest when it came to the thinking procedure. I acted more on instinct than anything, which is bad, according to some people.

It was getting to be passed an hour, and I was still unpacking the tiny things, like decorations Mito-san insisted I put up and a few extras I thought would make it a little homier. Holed up in my room, I then smelt something coming from outside, and I couldn't help but follow the amazing smell.

I exited my room to see Killua sitting at the island looking at something on his phone, which seemed to look like music. "What smells so good?" I asked, basically drooling.

"Chicken and rice," Killua replied but didn't say anything. I nodded, assuming that he was making himself dinner, which I would have to do sooner or later after I finished packing.

But I can take a break, I thought before sitting down beside him. "What'cha doin'?"

He shot a glare my way, which caused me to shiver, but I rubbed it off, knowing there wasn't any bad intent. "You're nosey," He grumbled before going back to what was on his phone.

"And you're not answering my question," I said, and waited for a reply, so when I got nothing, I leaned over his shoulder a little more. "It looks like music."

Killua put his phone down and looked at me. "Thank you, Captain Obvious, I would've never guessed," The way his voice drawled caused my brain to short circuit a bit, the way it sounded so smooth as the sarcasm dripped off his tongue like it was second nature.

"I knew you were sarcastic," was all I could get myself to say, which I was kind of proud of because I got to see the confused look on his face before he rolled his eyes.

"So sue me," he mumbled before he put his phone done, allowing me to see it. "This is the piece I need to play in class on Monday. It's the music score, which means I can choose to play any of the parts I want to."

Taking in the information, I thought of Killua playing instruments. Rocking out on a guitar, very likely, elegantly playing the piano, he had the fingers for it. "Really?! So, you can play all these instruments." I didn't realize how stupid it sounded until I said it.

Killua flinched like he was repressing an action, but he just shook his head and took his phone back. "No, idiot, I can't. There are very few people who can."

I nodded in understanding, "So what do you play?"

He paused, then started to count on his fingers, looking up the ceiling as if he was searching through his brain. I had to suppress a laugh at how cute he looked, but then he looked at me. "Well, I started on the guitar, then I played the piano, then the violin, trumpet, flute, clarinet, drums... let's leave it at I can play quite a few."

Taken aback, I tried to think if I could play any instruments, but all I could come up with was playing chopsticks on the piano and learning the trumpet in grade six when we had to take mandatory band, which wasn't the best years. "So, what are you going to play?" I said, unconsciously leaning in, something I didn't notice I did until Killua jumped out of his chair, trying to make it seem like he was checking on the food.

"I plan on playing the piano," he then stopped and tapped the counter, "but I need to find the music room tomorrow because I don't just have a piano on hand."

Seeing my opportunity, I jumped out of my chair. "I can show you where it is. I know Kurapika and a few seniors on campus and I've been here a few times before, so I know all about where you'll want to go and all that. It'll be fun!"

"What are you? Twelve?" He rolled his eyes at me.

"That's mean, Killua," I whined, watching as Killua just rolled his eyes. "I'm eighteen, for your information."

"Well, ditto," Killua mumbled, taking the chicken out of the oven. The smell reached my nose and I could.

T help but lean over his shoulder to take in the sight. It didn't look like much, but it smelled amazing.

I took in one more big sniff before I felt Killua tense up underneath me, then look over with a confused look on his face. Instantly, I pulled back. Killua had been patient with me, that wasn't hard to see. Most people, by this time, would've told him to back off and snap, but Killua just gave me a questioned look.

"Oh, sorry. I've been told I don't have much of a concept of personal space," I rubbed the back of my neck, before stepping back, giving Killua back his space. "And I try to remind myself, but I just get caught in the moment. But the chicken smells good. Did you use garlic?"

He didn't say anything, he just looked away, his head slightly bobbing, as if to say he understood. Grabbing some plates, he loaded up his plate with rice and chicken, the aroma teasing my nostrils. It was garlic.

Eyes trained on Killua, I watched as he sat down on the couch and began to fumble around on the TV, face twisting with distaste at some of the channels, which I couldn't see.

Making my way towards my bedroom, Killua yelled at me. "Hey!" Shocked at him talking to me, I whipped around to see him pointing at the kitchen. "Why don't you have any food?"

It took me a moment to understand what he was saying until I did. I ran, hurtling over a few loose items, grabbing the plate and overloading my plate and sitting down on the couch with Killua, shoveling the food into my mouth.

"Oh god, this is so good. Thank you Killua. You're so nice."

I didn't pay much attention to how Killua reacted, but I heard a line I was sure I would often hear from him.

"I'm not nice."


	3. Chapter 3

My heart was thumping at a mile a minute, as it always was in the morning. The earlier bird gets the worm is one of the many phrases that I believe in. Embracing the day means getting up early, which I am more than willing to do.

Today, though, I woke up even earlier, which was probably because of the person in the room across from mine. Yes, Killua. I was itching to get him up and take him around campus. At the thought, my heart pumped at new speeds, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

I race across the room and stop just short of KIllua's door, and begin frantically rapping on it.

"Hey! Killua!" I yelled through a grin. I waited for a response, but when I got none, I slowly opened the door and entered his room.

Last night I had suggested we both see each other's rooms, but Killua said no and retreated to that same place. I could kinda see why.

His room, compared to mine, was blank. There was nothing on the walls, the only things that could be seen were a few books on his dresser, a computer on his desk, and his guitar and amp in the far corner of his room.

Drawing my attention away from the lack of detail, I noticed the bed covers moving around and I snuck closer.

"Killua?" my voice breaking through the rustle, that stopped as soon as I spoke.

Everything stopped at the glare I received from those icy eyes. I could see how pissed he was with only seeing a portion of his face, and I knew the mistake I made.

His eyes darted towards the alarm clock, that read around 6 am, then he looked back at me. "What the fuck are you doing in my room?" his voice was raspy and filled with sleep.

Lost for words, I just slowly backed up, hoping that maybe I could get out of this, let him think it was a dream. My hopes were crushed as he began to sit up, letting his eyes stay trained on me.

"Sorry," my voice cracked as I spoke, "I was just excited to get up and start the day. And... and since I was going to show you around, I thought I should wake you up."

The blank stare continued to look at me, so I just took in a deep breath and waited. Releasing a hefty sigh, KIllua got up, revealing his built body, and a pair of sweatpants.

My throat clenched up, but I ignored it.

"You shouldn't have woken me up, idiot." His hand-rolled across his face, head tilted toward the ceiling. He looked at me again, then made his way towards the door and into the kitchen, where he grumbled while trying to find something in the cupboards.

"Shit shit shit," a growl left his mouth before he closed the cupboard he was looking in and moving on the next one. He did this repeatedly until he had gone through all of the cupboards.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked. A fluffy white head whipped towards me before Killua laid his upper body on top of the island and dug his hands into his head.

I low rumble exited his mouth. "Fuck me," he said, his voice having more sleep then bite in it.

"Well, only if you ask nicely," I chuckled.

I don't think I've seen someone move so fast. A pink blush covered his face. "Dude," his face twisted in what seemed to be disgust.

Laughing at his reaction, I sat down on one of the island chairs. "I'm just kidding. But seriously, what's wrong?"

"Two things. One, we don't have anything for breakfast-"

"There are leftovers from last night," I suggested.

His nose scrunched up. "No way am I eating chicken for breakfast. Anyways, second is that we don't have any coffee."

Despite not being a coffee drinker myself, I nodded, understanding that people tended to need coffee function. Killua was probably one of those people.

Thinking of what we should do, I ran to my room and came back with a pen and a pad of paper. "Okay, we need to get food and other supplies. If we use the school budget we receive, we got one thousand dollars to spend between the two of use. So, if we each write what we need on this piece of paper, then we should be able to get what we need and we'll be set till next week-ish."

Killua sat down beside me, nodding in a sluggish movement. "Whatever, but we need to eat before we do that. I might just kill someone without coffee."

"Okay, let's go," Jumping out of my seat, I raced to my room and grabbed my coat.

I took a look around my room, remembering the comparison I had made between my room and Killua's earlier, which is something I would have to ask him about a little bit later. It was confusing that he didn't have as many things as a typical university student did, especially for a student who was just leaving his family. Maybe he didn't have much of a close-knit family as I did.

Finally, I emerged from my room, only to see Killua still sitting at the island with just his sweatpants on. "Aren't you going to change?"

His head shot up and his eyes darted around the room before he connected two and two and went into his room.

He came out of his room, wearing a dark red sweater, light blue jeans, and black converse. It was extremely simple, but he made it look really good.

I couldn't help but look at what I was wearing, a green plaid shirt, a white tee-shirt, and black ripped jeans. In comparison to Killua, I didn't know anything about fashion, despite how much simpler his look was.

"Ready to go?" Killua broke the silence, before picking up a set of keys and shoving them into his back pocket. He opened the door and gestured for me to get out of the door.

"Thank you," I said while exiting the room and making my way to the stairwell. I hadn't noticed, but it was still dark outside, which was mainly my fault. But whatever.

I knew Killua was following behind me, but I could barely hear his footsteps as if he were attempting to making it sound as if he didn't exist. Another thing for me to ask him.

Dropping my pace a bit so I could walk right beside him, I offered a smile. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," he stated bluntly. "I'm not the one who knows this town."

"True. There are a few coffee shops on campus, but the best one is around three blocks off of campus. It's also close to a few grocery stores and a market," I watched as Killua merely nodded along to what I was saying. "The market is probably open around seven-ish and it's," I looked at my watch, "6:32 am, so we can take our time."

We were three floors down by know before I heard Killua hum. "Damn early riser. You didn't need to get me up so early." He grumbled.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's another thing I'm working on," I looked at him and examined his sluggish movements, hunched over shoulders. He yawned a bit, and I couldn't help but snort. "I see you aren't an early riser."

His white hair tousled violently before he gave me an annoyed look. "God, an early riser is the last thing I am."

"Well," I began before taking the last turn into the lobby, "maybe that's why we're going to be great friends."

ANother grunt/snort- maybe I should start counting- a game from Killua, as we walked down the walked through the deserted lobby room into the outdoors. "I doubt we'll be friends."

"Why, is there something wrong with me?" I asked, honestly feeling slightly hurt.

He just shook his head. "No, it's not you. You seem like a nice guy and friendly. I, on the other hand, am not."

I tried to think of a moment where Killua was unfriendly, but none came to mind. "I don't know where you got that opinion from. I'm sure you have a friend who thinks otherwise."

"I've never had a friend,"

Everything just stopped for a second. Was it possible for someone to never have a friend? "Really?!"

I could see his face flush with the I-shouldn't-have-said-that look, but he didn't make a move to get out of the conversation. "I know, depressing, right. Not one friend ever. I was home-schooled until high school. Then my parents put me into this fancy boarding school, and you'd think there'd be someone there'd who be willing to be my friend. Not one person.

"Little shits. They all hated me, probably because I acted like an ass half the time and didn't talk to anyone. Some rumors went around that I was a drug addict or something, so that didn't help much. High school wasn't a good experience at all."

I just nodded along, before pointing for us to turn to the left, which we did. "Weird. Boarding school people never did sound that fun, but it makes them sound horrible when you tell me that. I still can't believe that you've never had a friend."

"It's true. My family was very protective assholes, so I wasn't allowed to go interact too much. My social skills suck because of that," he rubbed the back of his neck while yawning. It seemed like he was bored, or at least, it did in the way he acted. His eyes told another story. They were sad, glazed over, and distant.

"Then I'll be your first friend, and I'll be your best friend," I stated without giving any room for argument, but Killua still found a way to argue.

"You probably won't like me all that much in the next few days. I probably won't talk to you a whole lot and stay locked up in my room,"

"And I'll sit in your room and force you to talk to me, and I won't allow you to say no," I stated while we left the campus area and started to walk to the left, towards the coffee shop.

Killua's whole body moved as he sighed before he rolled his eyes. "You're extremely stubborn."

Neither of us spoke, we just continued to walk down the street. I couldn't help but notice the sun was starting to peek through some of the buildings, which made me smile a little bit. I also couldn't help but notice the fact that Killua was starting the become less sluggish in his step and he was taking in more of his surroundings.

"So, what's the story on the coffee shop?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"A coffee shop three blocks off of a campus that already has some perfectly good ones on it. There's a reason why you prefer the one to any of the other ones,"

I listened to his explanation intently, "Actually, the coffee shop owner used to be a girl I dated," I explained as I looked at Killua, noticing that he was around an inch or two shorter than me. "We went on one date, but then I called it off because I had a few goals I needed to accomplish before I could date anyone. So we're really good friends now. She also makes really good coffee."

"Sappy story, needless to say," Killua smirked over at me, his blue eyes lighting up slightly.

"It is, isn't it. Anyways, here we are," I directed his attention to the small deep red coffee shop to our right. The place itself looked kind of creepy, I wasn't going to lie about that, but once inside, it had a warm feel to it.

"Does she also run a cult or something?" Killua shot me a slightly concerned look before making his way inside.

"No... I don't know how to describe her, but you'll see what she's like in a bit," I followed and we made our way to the front counter where you could see a figure leaning over the counter. "Hey! Palm," I yelled, which got her attention.

I heard a sharp intake of air, which came from Palm, who continued to stir her coffee. "Gon."

"Hey, how're you doing?" I asked.

"Pretty good," her voice sounded kind of like a melody until her eyes landed on Killua. Her face soured and her voice became slightly hostile. "Who's that?"

"Palm, this is Killua, my roommate. Killua, this is Palm, my friend,"

Killua gave a curt nodded, before his eyes trained up to the chalkboard menu above Palm's head. "You sure have a lot of specialty coffee, don't' cha."

"Yes, seeing as we are a coffee shop," Palm was digging daggers into Killu, but he didn't seem to mind, or, at least, he didn't let it seem like he did.

"You could rival a Starbucks or something. You just need to lighten the place up a bit,"

I wasn't going to lie when I expected this to happen. From what I learned from KIllua, over the less than 24 hours, he could read a persona and would give them the side of his personality they deserved. Palm seemed to be sending a nasty vibe to Killua, and with that, mixed with the early morning, he wasn't going to be giving her an all to the happy side.

"Killua, don't be mean," I gave him a little elbow before he shocks his head.

"Yeah yeah," he waved me off before pulling out his wallet. "I'll have a large dark roast coffee. Three sugars and two creams." He dumped the money on the counter and waited for his chance.

"I'll have the usual," I said, offering a small grin.

"Medium peppermint tea, then," Palm giggled. I'm pretty sure anyone could notice that she lingered when our hands touched when I gave her the money.

"Yeah, thanks, Palm." I moved back and stood beside Killua, who was yawning, once again.

"Three packs of sugar?" I chuckled while he just nodded.

"Whatever gets me going," Palm then brought up the coffee, which Killua accepted without hesitation, then began to drink like it was life or death.

I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed from drinking his coffee, and I had to force myself to look away.

Damnit, he was hot.

"Fuck, I needed that so bad," Killua groaned after taking a long swig.

I laughed and went to get my tea, watching as Killua continued to drink his coffee. I felt a tap on my shoulder and came face-to-face with, who seemed to be something, Palm.

"What's up between the two of you?" she hissed at me.

I raised an eyebrow, "Nothing. We're just roommates like I said before. I'm showing him around the campus and all that."

She just nodded, taking a glance at Killua before she got back to work.

I shook off the weird behavior and walked back towards Killua who seemed to be staring at his phone and humming a tune.

"Ready to get food?"

His phone was away and he was out the door within a second, his gait picking up a whole lot compared to a few seconds ago. Trotting, I matched his pace and took a sip of my tea.

Our heels clicked against the pavement, the streets finally starting to come to life with cars and a few others who were walking the streets. There was a slight chill in the air, seeing as it was January when the school year started, which I had always found weird.

"Eggs, milk, cereal, mac, and cheese... DO you think there's anything else we'll need, besides some meats and what not?" Killua asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

I tried to think of what we should get, but nothing instantly jumped out at me. "I think we should just go to the store and see what they have, then we can decide. Sound good?"

I got a grunt in response as Killua drank from his cup. We continued to walk for around a block until we came to a small market, which had posters of deals hanging all across the window, making it nearly impossible to see inside.

I held the door open for Killua who grunted a thank you and went inside and stopped, examining each of the boards above the aisles.

"We should get milk last, I don't want to have to carry it around the whole time," he said, before heading towards the grain aisle.

A few aisles away, I heard a crash than a pair of shouts, one that I knew all too well. "Killua,"

"Yeah?"

"I'm just going to go check over there, I'll be right back," I said before turning around. I heard him mumble something about not having to say anything, which I just laughed a little bit at.

I rounded the corner of the aisle to see the tall form of Leorio bent over and picking up some knocked over boxes of noodles. "Heya, Leorio. Need some help with that?" I asked before starting to help him.

"Damn, Gon. You always seem to show up when I mess up. At least you don't make fun of me as Kurapika does," he grumbled, picking up the last box and setting it on the shelf.

I merely laughed, not knowing how to reply to his grumblings before I looked at his basket, which was filled with chips, and other party foods. "I assume that you're preparing for a party or something."

"Yep," he then set a cocky grin onto his face and put a hand on his puffed-out chest. "I'm gonna throw a party tomorrow night, and we're gonna pack the fifth floor like no tomorrow. Kurapika ain't gonna be able to do nothing about it."

"Oh, sounds fun," I began to wonder if Killua would like to go, which brought my attention to another thing. "Oh, I want you to meet my roommate." I grabbed his hand a dragged him along, looking down the aisles for a fluff of white hair. When we came to the grain aisles, I finally spotted him crouched down and studying to loaves of bread.

"Killua!" I shouted.

His head popped up and he looked over at me. "Great, you're here. I was just about to ask about what type of bread you wanted."

"It doesn't matter," I said before gesturing to Leorio. "This is Leorio, he's in medical studies at H.U. He's the guy that showed me around campus."

Killua stood up and did a kick up-down assessment of Leorio, before walking towards us and offering a hand. "I'm Killua, Gon's roommate."

Leorio took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

They released each other's hands and Killua went back to the bread he was looking at earlier and grabbed two loaves.

Leorio leaned over and cupped a hand over my ear, kind of like when girls are gossiping. I felt the urge to tease him about, but I decided to listen to what he had to say. "So, I'm not the only one getting the go-fuck-yourself vibe, right?"

"What?"

Gabbing a finger over in Killua's direction, Leorio continued his thought. "The guy looks like one of those punks you meet in the ally who wants to steal your money. Not clothes-wise, but just with the way he was looking at me."

"That's just because it's the morning. Killua isn't much of a morning person. It's my fault that he's like that because I woke him up at six today. He got coffee, which he said helped, but he's still out of it."

Leorio nodded before watching Killua walk back towards them, with a loaf of bread and a few packs of noodles in a basket he had grabbed.

"Hey, kid," Leorio said, gaining Killua's attention.

"Saying stuff like that makes you sound old," Killua pointed out while taking a sip of coffee.

My hand flew to my mouth to cover up my laughing from both Killua's comment and Leorio's reaction. "You know what smart-ass..." Leorio didn't say anything after that, and both Killua and I stood there waiting for him to say something.

"Anyways," Killua said walking by him and towards the row of vegetables behind us. "What were you going to ask me?"

"I was going to ask if that was your natural hair color,"

I hit Leorio on the shoulder, giving him a little glare. "Leorio, don't be mean."

"It's okay, Gon," KIllua mumbled, before turning to Leorio. "Yeah, it is. Do you need proof?"

Leorio just shook his head and turned away. "No, it's all good. I was just wondering. I need to get going now. See ya around." He waved and went to the front counter, leaving Killua and me along.

I turned back to Killua to see that he was playing with his hair, before turning around and looking at the heads of lettuce.

I walked up to him and offered a smile. "Sorry about Leorio. He can be upfront about things, sometimes even more than me."

"I can tell,"

That cut off our conversation, and the rest of our little trip was just spent asking each other what we wanted for food.

Once we had paid for the food, we left the store and made our way towards campus, intending to drop our stuff off back at the dorm.

This time, I took the time to look around the campus. In the middle of the courtyard area was this fountain thing with an archer standing in the middle. I found it quite interesting, and surrounding the fountain was tons of park benches and picnic tables, with students already hanging around them. Around the campus there were tons of buildings, the majority of them split into two subjects that corresponded with each other. Otherwise, there was tons of green space and areas for students to and hang around.

We continued down the path to the dorm building, both of us not talking all that much. A few people would wave at me, some even stopped and said hello. Each person I made sure to greet, giving them each a few spare seconds, and I would even stop to talk to the few who came up to me, but Killua kept walking, even when I stopped. I didn't think too much of it, considering that Killua had said that he wasn't the much of a socialite, like I was. So I'd talk to those who came up to me for a bit, then run to catch up with Killua.

After around the third time I did this, KIllua looked at me, giving me a slightly confused look before looking straight ahead again.

We came back into our room and began to pack away the food, still staying quiet. I could feel my skin crawling at wanting to make some sort of conversation, but I didn't want to get shot down.

Finally, I gave in to the desire to talk. "So," I began while putting away the last of one of the bags I had. "When do you want to head down to the music rooms. I'm not sure if they'll be used, but we can see."

"Okay. Just give me a second," Killua said before walking into his room. I felt the urge to follow him, but decided against it and waited until he came out with a piece of paper and a pencil.

"What's that for?"

He glanced at the paper then back up at me. "It's to take notes on what I'll need to watch for, in case I mess up on something."

With that we made our way out the door, Killua lagging slightly. As we walked across to the opposite side of the campus, I pointed outbuildings that I may need to know, giving him the kick run down on the place. He only nodded in response.

"And this," I finally said as we approached the last building on campus, "is the Fine arts building. All the music rooms are to the left. Come on."

Killua's eyes seemed to light up, but just a bit, and he walked right beside me, keeping pace with me. Taking the left hallway, our step increased into a job, which would've turned into full out running if there hadn't been so many people in the hallways. The end of the hall was in sight and my eyes caught an empty practice room that had a piece of paper that said 'Free Use' on it. So, taking off the sheet of paper, I opened the door and allowed Killua to enter.

He levitated instantly to the piano in the room, sitting right down and opening up the cover to reveal the white and black keys.

I waited, waited to here him to start playing, but he didn't. He just sat, staring at the piano, face scrunched up. Watching him, I sat down on a chair in the corner of the room, trying to figure out what might be wrong.

Breaking the silence, Killua laid a finger on a key, then continued, going up and down the piano with skill. The pace his fingers moved at quicked everything time he finished a scale. This kept going until he hit the very last note on the piano.

I began clapping, giving a little whoot when Killua looked back at me, eyebrows frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Applauding you," my tone making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.

He shook his head before pulling out his phone, doing a few things on it and bring up what I assumed was the music he had shown me last night. He rested his fingers on the keys again, eyes never leaving the screen. He went to play a note, then looked back at me.

"Are you going to stay and watch? I could be in here for hours, you know."

I nodded, "I don't want to miss this. Besides, I want to hear you play something cool."

"Fine then. Don't blame me if it gets boring."

Directed back towards the piano, he began to play, moving at a speed which made it look like he had played the music before, only lifting his hands when he needed to change the page.

He finally came to a stop. He then grabbed the paper from his coat and began to write some things down before looking over at the metronome on top of a piano and adjusted the setting.

I then began to do it's hypnotic ticking, moving in a constant motion which I had to pry my eyes away from and refocus on Killua who was reading the music again.

He then began to play again, but this time, there were different levels in the volume. It was slower and more melodic than it had been when he first played. He then came to a long-standing note and stopped playing, then turned back to the metronome and adjusted it. The speed that it started going at caught my attention and I directed my attention back to KIllua, who then, with force, pressed his fingers on the keys again, creating a sharp more vampiric tone.

Nimble fingers flew against the keys as his hand drifted into a higher register, creating this ringing tone throughout the room. I was on the edge of my seat, eyes trying to keep up with the way his ale fingers flew across the keys. With the force he was playing at, the piano was slightly moving, but it was nothing compared to the way his body moved. Every Time his hand came to the piano, his whole body dove in as well. The amount of passion he was driving into the song was beyond anything I had seen from anyone. I felt honored to be a witness.

Hitting the climax, there was a notable difference in the tone, this hands moving with fury, until he slowed almost to a halt, compared to the speed he was once going. The volume dropped and became more melodic until he came back to a pace and fury that had once been there.

With expertise, his hand began to repeat the same notes again and again until he slowed down. And his hand drifted to the top of the piano hitting the last note.

He pulled his hands from the piano, and took a deep breath and move back to his sheet of paper, jotting a few things down. The metronome continued to tick int background, but it was forgotten by the both of us.

I swallowed sharply, eyes still wide. "H-holy shit," I finally let out a few words, and Killua looked over at me.

"Pretty damn good, aren't I?" He gave me a sly grin before going back to what he was writing.

"Yeah, you are. Why didn't you tell me you were that good?" I practically yelled at him.

A small blushed crossed his face, as he continued to write, "Idiot. How am I supposed to tell you how good I am if I can't show you. Anyways, it is nice if you'd make yourself useful and gave me a little bit of criticism. I am supposed to present this to the whole class."

Never thinking that he asks for my input, I looked at him and tried to offer up something. "One of the notes sound off?" At least I tired.

"In my playing, or just sharper, or flatter, than the usual kind of off?"

"The latter... I think,"

Killua nodded, "I noticed that two," then his hand drifted to what I assumed was a C, not that I know anything about music, and played it. "But since it's a piano, there's nothing I can do. Someone just needs to fix it."

"Then that means you did it perfectly," I clapped, giving him a huge smile.

Killua shook his head. "No. There are still a few things I have to work on, such as adding more dynamics than suggested and adding a little bit more emotion. Stuff like that."

"More emotion?" I jumped up and walked over to KIllua who was still taking in deep breaths. "You're still trying to catch your breath and your kind of sweetening. Don't tell me that didn't have enough emotion."

Icy eyes darted up at me, before shaking his head. "I mean in the piece. Notable differences in articulations and things like that, not the emotion I have."

"Oh," I whispered before looking over at his phone. "What's it called?"

"The Black Star, by Lionel Yu," KIllua supplied before looking over at the clock in the room. "It's at 2 pm already."

He got up from the bench, closing the piano cover and picking up his phone, the paper, and a pencil.

I followed him out of the room, entering back into the hallway that was packed with students looking to use and available rooms. As soon as we were out of the room, a pair of people swooped in, taking over where we once were.

"Do you think you can play on your guitar for me?" I asked, trying to maneuver through the people crowding around.

Killua gave me a funny look, "Why?"

"Well, if you started playing the guitar before the piano, and you're that good on the piano, then you must be a master at the guitar."

Killua's face flamed up before he sighed. "Just tell me what you want me to play."

It didn't take us long to get back to the room, and once we were there Killua made his way towards his room and picked up his guitar.

"Just give me a second," he mumbled before he sat on the couch and began to play strummed a few notes on the guitar. "Play the song you wanted me to play."

My phone was out and the song was already loaded. Killua had explained he'd need to hear it play, so I had it ready.

The notes began to play and Killua started to strum along. I turned it off a bit later and sat beside him, listening to him play.

His eyebrows were scrunched up in concentration and his hands began to expertly move across the strings. The sharp and flat notes began to ring through the air and I started to hum along slightly.

The song was coming to around the middle and Killua was only getting more intense by the second. He was tapping his foot and humming along, which caught my attention.

"Do you sing too?"

Everything stopped. Killua was frozen in place and his face lit up, pink contrasting his pale skin.

"N-no," he tried to get out in a normal voice but it didn't work.

"You do," I giggled before gesturing towards him. "Song for me."

Killua didn't move for a second, then he stood up. "I don't sing." His voice cut through the air, leaving no room for argument. I watched as he went into his room and closed the door behind him.

Pausing for a moment, I tried to decide on whether I'd go ask him what was wrong. But then left it alone, knowing that he had probably opened up a lot today. Especially seeing that he had never had a friend before.

So, I just sat on the couch, turned on the TV, and channeled surf, keeping in mind to ask Killua about it later.


	4. Chapter 4

My alarm goes off, nearly giving me a heart attack. Jolting out of my bed, I just avoid falling to the floor, before I get up and walk to my phone, turning off my alarm.  
Inhaling, I begin to stretch, slugging over to the dresser, grabbing some clothes at random and making my way to the door.  
My hand hovers over the handle when I remembered that in the other room was, quite possibly, Gon, who I had left with no explanation. It wasn't like I had wanted to, he seemed like a nice person, maybe even someone I would be willing to open up to, but, there were some things that I didn't want to remember, didn't want to have to think about.  
A low groan escaped my mouth as my brain was tripping over thoughts I wasn't ready for it at this time in the morning. So, I gathered the courage to open the door and walked out of my room and made my way towards the bathroom, door wide open.  
I enter, closed and locked the door behind me, and began to do my daily routine, trying not to drag too much so I wouldn't be late for any of my classes. Finished, I dressed in what turned out to be light grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt, blue sweater in tow. I shrugged at the combo before exiting the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my shoulders, catching the few drops of water leaking from my hair.  
"Damn hair," I cursed while fiddling with a strand. The coffee grounds were already in my hand and being dumped into the coffee machine, which I still had yet to figure out.  
"Morning." I jumped up at the chipper voice, emitted from the living room. I turned to see Gon reading something with a cup in his hand. He tipped the cup towards me with a blinding smile on his face. I felt a small smile start to creep onto my face, but I turned around before he could see it.  
"Morning," I mumbled before pressing buttons on the coffee machine until I heard the always faithful sound of coffee beginning to stream into the pot.  
For a while, we said nothing, total silence covering the room. Then movement came from the other side of the room, evidently showing that Gon was getting up to move around. "Killua?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I wanted to apologize for last night." Something went off in my head, but I didn't know what it was, so I turned my head to the side, just enough to be within my field of vision. "I shouldn't have asked you to do something you weren't comfortable, much less push you into doing it, So-"  
I cut him off, "You don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have acted so uptightly." I faced him and offered a small forced smile, hoping that we wouldn't have to talk about it anymore. Not in the morning, at least.  
His face lit up before he bound around the island and made his way towards the fridge. "So, what'cha want to eat?"  
"I don't have the time. I have a class in fifteen minutes." Once I said that Gon's head whipped so hard towards me that I was surprised that he didn't get whiplash. He was like a child.  
"You only gave yourself twenty minutes?" He practically screamed. "But you need to eat!"  
Lightly laughing, the coffee pot went off, giving my attention. "I prioritize sleep over anything. I can eat after class, anyways."  
Behind me, Gon mumbled something about it not being healthy and I had to suppress a laugh while scoured the cupboards for a to-go mug. Once I found one, I poured my coffee and grabbed the sugar and coffee cream. After I wrapped up my beverage, I grabbed my sweater and phone and was headed towards the door.  
"See ya at noon, Gon," I yelled before walking out of the room and heading towards the staircase.  
I took a glance at the time and my throat clenched. I had ten minutes to get to the music building. At that moment, I started at the full sprint down the stairs, making sure to keep a hand hovered over the stair railings, in case I lose my footing.  
Touching down on the ground floor, I broke out into a full sprint towards the music building, seven minutes remaining to get there. As I tore through the building I couldn't help but smile, thinking about how rebellious I was being. At home, I would never be allowed to have such a rushed entrance into school.  
"We need to keep up with appearance." My mother would yell at me anytime I would get to school without half an hour to spare.  
The thought caused me to grind my teeth as I finally made it into the building, turning to the left and towards the lecture hall, where we had been told to meet at.  
Three minutes left. I slowed down to a slow job, the door to the lecture hall in my sight. Cutting it close was more up my alley.  
I shoved a hand into my pocket and walked into the hall where three other students sat and stared at me. All of them had this weird air of competition around them, but it made sense, considering they were attending Hunter UNiversity. I also couldn't help but notice how properly dressed everyone was, all wearing button-ups and dressy pants. I probably looked like a hobo in comparison to them.  
Two girls, one guy, and as the clock chimed inside the class, notifying the lessons to start, it seemed like these were the only students in this class, besides me.  
Staying in the role of the rebellious kid, because the studious student role was already taken, I took a seat in the far back corner of the class, probably where I would've been placed if it went bay alphabetical order.  
I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't some private school, this was one of the best schools in the country, which meant that all high school stereotypes didn't matter, or, at least, I thought.  
Our teacher came bouncing into the room. Yes, bouncing. She was hoping, maybe skipping was the better word, but, regardless, she came into the room, dressed in a bright pink dress, her hair tied up into a cross between a neat and messy bun. In the least, I'd say she'd look to be around twelve years, maybe ten, but she had to be older to lecture students.  
"Hello class," she chimed, literally. "I'm your professor, Biscuit Kreger, but you can call me Biscuit, even Bisky if you please."  
Her crimson eyes scanned the room as she seemed to count the number of students her eyes falling on me last. "Looks like the acceptance was low this year, or you had to be very exceptional to get in. No matter. I'm still going to train you to the bone."  
Murderous looking intent flashed across her face, "Since there's so little of you it seems you'll get to know each other quite well. How's about we make our introductions through music, seeing as that's why you are here." She motioned towards the girl, who had long blonde hair, sitting on the opposite side of the room as me, causing me to let out a relieved breath, which I quickly covered up.  
"How about we start with this side of the room. Stand up," she ordered and the girl stood up so quickly you would've thought she was a puppet on strings. "Come down here, introduce yourself, and play the piece I assigned," Bisky smiled while gesturing towards the army of instruments that were sitting behind her.  
Skittishly, the girl trotted down the stairs and looked at the instruments until she walked towards the cello. Giving it a once over she sat down and started to tune the instrument. I noticed that it was already perfectly in tune, the notes humming at the right vibration through the room, but the girl began to tamper with them, making each of the strings flatter than they needed to be. I balled up my hand into a fist, feeling my nails digging into my skin, in prevention from shouting at her to check her tuning. Bisky also seemed to notice, as she pulled out a notebook and jotted something down.  
The girl looked up at us and offered a shy smile, "Um, hi. I'm Sheila Howson, and I'm a cellist." She then looked down at the instrument and pulled out her phone, giving the music a once over, obviously plotting out her plan of an attack, then began to play.  
Just like the song started to play, she started slowly and progressed on, but she worked very technically at the music, making sure that there wasn't the slightest imperfection, which made her performance boring, in my opinion.  
After she was done, Bisky wrote a few things down then gestured towards the guy sitting near her. "You're up next."  
He pushed his glasses up before making his way towards the instruments. The way he walked showed tons of confidence, but the snobbish kind, which made me want to laugh. Those are the types of people who I hated the most because they reminded me so much of my family. Pushing that thought away, I watched as his eyes narrowed onto a trumpet sitting by the string instrument. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a buzzer (A.N: Mouthpiece, for those who may not know) and placed it in the instrument.  
Giving a few experimental blows he then looked towards us and bowed slightly, before ruffling his almost black hair. "Hello, classmates-"  
"Good God," I groaned, then noticed I said it out loud, I looked for a sign that someone had heard, which no one had.  
"My name is Ian Stone. As you can see, I'm a trumpet player, and today I'll be playing Black Star By Lionel Yu." He then set himself into position, no music in front of him, and began to play. Much like Sheila, he played with such precision that it was a boring performance, but he did hit everything spot on, which obviously would score him some points with Bisky. I looked over at our professor to see her head was sucked into her notebook, which made me want to laugh. If I was thinking correctly, which I probably was, she didn't want to have to watch his dull performance.  
Once he finished, he bowed, again, then took his mouthpiece and returned to his seat. Bisky didn't say anything but just pointed towards the girl sitting close to me, who had bright purple hair knotted tightly into a bun. She jumped out of her seat and ran towards the instruments and grabbed hold of the bassoon sitting at the far end of the 'army'. She picked it up and reached into her dress shirt, pulling out a reed and set it into her mouth before turning towards the rest of us.  
"Hey guys," he cheered through the reed in her mouth. "The name's Chiko Kastro, cool name right!" I'm pretty sure she had had way too much caffeine.  
"So, I play the bassoon, as you can see," she displayed the bassoon as if we were doing some sort of show and tell. "And I'm playing the same piece as all of you."  
She then put the reed into place and tested out the instrument before looking in my direction, smirking. "This one's for you, cutie." I shrank into my seat as the other two looked back at me, Sheila laughing a bit.  
She then began to play, her cheeks flushing from the amount of air she was putting into the instrument. I may not be an expert in the woodwind area, but I knew that exerting that much effort into playing would just cause a shorter amount of time for being able to play, due to less air support. But, besides that, she was good at adding in emotion to the piece and playing it from memory, but I had a feeling that it was just that the caffeine she had had was giving her enough drive to get through the song.  
When she finally finished, she looked up over at me and winked, before standing up and bowing comically. She grabbed her reed and made her way back towards her seat.  
That's when my stomach began to twist. I was so not ready.  
"Last one up," Bisky yelled and my legs began to work before I could think about it.  
I took in a deep breath and made my way towards the piano on a stage in the corner of the room. My heart was racing at the attention I was getting, but I couldn't help but notice it wasn't as bad as when I had played for Gon.  
I got to the piano and sat on the bench, pulling out my phone and finding the music. "You can do this," I whispered to myself before standing up and facing my audience.  
My hands were shoved into my pockets, fisting the fabric in a desperate attempt to calm myself. "Hi. I'm Killua Zoldyck-"  
Before I could get any of the rest of my sentence out the girl with purple hair gasped and looked at me. "Like, the Zoldyck Industries, Zoldyck?"  
I rolled my eyes, "Yes. Anyways, I'll be playing the piece on the piano." I fell onto the bench, not caring at the looks I was getting now. I could feel a slight rage bubbling up in me just like whenever someone would mention my family. Deciding to put the rage to good use, I began to play, keeping in mind the tempo that I wanted to put into the music.  
Compared to the other instruments, playing this song on the piano was easy, especially because I could create chords and other mixtures of sounds into the music while they were stuck with just playing the melody. But, I took the chance and began to pour my rage into the music.  
Once in while my fingers would slip as I attempted to keep up the fast pace, at which I'd just grinned my teeth together and keep moving. I'm sure that others could pick out the mistakes that I made, but I tried to make it look natural, tried to play it out like I meant for it to happen. This was my first impression, may as well try to be confident.  
Before I knew it, the song came to an end and my heart was still racing, my breath moving at a mile a minute. I turned towards everyone who gave the same response as they had to the others, silence. I nodded and headed back to my seat before Bisky took center stage.  
"Well, what you did today was my first impression assessment. Since it's the first day, I'm going to go easy on you and just expect you to play that and participate in a little interview with me. So, Sheila, how about we start with you."  
Sheila followed her out of the room and through a door on the right side. We were all quiet until Chiko came up to me, a huge smile painting her face. "Aren't you special?"  
Taken aback, I noticed she had the same front approach as Gon did. "Pardon?"  
"Awe, now you're acting all polite. I'm talking about your performance," she giggled before sitting in the chair next to me.  
I grunted in response, which caused her to laugh, even more, attracting the attention of Ian, who decided to clammer over to where we were.  
"I know I introduced myself earlier, but I prefer in-person introductions," Ian smiled while sticking out his hand. Chiko took it and when he looked at me, I just stared at the hand, eventually taking it.  
Chiko then squealed and scooted closer to me. "Oh, you're such a bad boy, Killua." I'm pretty sure my organs attempted to reorganize themselves at that moment. I was about to move from my seat when Chiko back off and tapped her chin. "Don't you think it's a little too perfect. Two girls and two boys. It's like the beginning of a soap opera. We'll all be stuck in some sort of love square and, eventually, we'll all work ourselves out and fall in love."  
"You probably watch too much TV," I mumbled before pulling out my phone.  
Ian raised an eyebrow and looked at me, "So you do talk."  
"I talked earlier, so what's so surprising that I'm talking now?" I snapped at him before taking a sip of my coffee. I was not ready to be handling this so early in the morning.  
We were all silent for a bit before Chiko poked my arm. "So, here's the thing. I wanted to apologize for before. I shouldn't have interrupted you. Can you forgive me?"  
"I don't matter." Fact.  
"But it does. It was-"  
Sheila walked out of the office, head hanging low. Bisky followed then pointed at Ian, who followed, reluctantly.  
We waited until Sheila came to us and Chiko began to rapid-fire questions at her. "What happened? Did she lecture to you? Are you okay? I love your hair, what do you use that makes it look so soft?-"  
That continued for a minute, neither Sheila or I saying anything until Chiko ran out of breath. A heartwarming motherly smile crossed Sheila's face before she pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. "She's intimidating. She told me that I need to work on so much that it's a miracle I ended up in this class."  
"OMG, she's a horrible person. I hate her," Chiko cried, which earned a panicked look from Sheila.  
"No no, she's nice. After she gave me the lecture, she started listing what I did have the potential for and just what I can fix, so there shouldn't be any sort of hating."  
I stared down at my phone when I felt both their eyes lay on me. "Are you expecting me to be concerned?" I grumbled before giving them both a stern look.  
"No," Sheila stammered before giving me an apologetic look. "God no. I thought you did amazing, I just was surprised you weren't asking anything."  
I returned to my phone, scrolling through the school website in look for a place nearby with good food. Luckily for me, this was the only class I had for the day, but that didn't make it any better.  
"Oh, Sheila-" Chiko giggled, before starting a conversation that seemed to be a girl bonding experience, nothing I was interested in.  
Around a few minutes later, Ian left the room and made his way towards us. Chiko got up to take her turn. Again, I kept myself out of their conversation, preferring to look at the weird meme that had been popping up all over the internet.  
Fifteen minutes passed and Chiko left the room. I couldn't help but notice she wasn't smiling as widely, but I didn't say anything as I made my way towards the room.  
Once inside, I noticed it was very pink and girly, making me want to vomit from the atmosphere it put off.  
"Finally, the last one," Bisky grumbled from behind her desk. She pointed towards the chair in front of her desk. Sitting down, I tried to look as bored as possible, but hearing about everyone's interview, I couldn't help but feel anxious.  
"So, Killua. Where should I start? The good or bad?" Her lips twisted into some evil grin.  
"Sounds like starting with the bad stuff is your trend, so let's not break it,"  
"Aren't you a smart-ass?" She laughed before pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to me. Down the list was scribbled, which was rushed handwriting, so, I just looked at her, waiting for the explanation.  
"The first point, you have an off-putting aura. You don't have a very open personality, I can tell, and I won't do anything about it, it's not my job, but when you're performing, put it away. It just makes the audience disrespect you and not take your music seriously," She folded her hands together and stared at me.  
"So, the first point is personality change? It seems likes everyone thinks I'm an actor," I grumbled, which caused Bisky to laugh.  
"Onto the next point," she pulled out another piece of paper, which was the music score for the piece I had just played. "I know that middle school and high school teachers always tell you to add your flair to it, and it's a good idea. But changing the dynamics in the piece to contradict what the composer wanted is not recommended. Got it?"  
I only nodded. I couldn' think of anything to say and I was waiting for the worst to come, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.  
"And that's it for bad points."  
I jolted up a little bit in my seat before looking at her. "What?"  
"You're confused, I can see. I'm sure the others all went off about what a bad person I was, ridiculing every little mistake, but I only told them what they needed to know, what would make them better. You just need to be a little less of yourself and you're good."  
"Wha-"  
"Killua. Can you tell me what you thought of the other performances?"  
I stopped and didn't say anything, it just looked at the door. "Well... Sheila turned horribly, to flat. If she was attempting to add something to the piece, making it flatter was not the way to go. On top of that, she was shy in her approach and very technical about it. There wasn't a lot of thought put into it."  
"Good. What about Ian?"  
"His performance was extremely formal, to the point where it was tedious to watch. And, like Sheila, he was very technical about it. Overall, he was okay, but the way he carried himself was kind of... snobbish. Not something I'd want to watch."  
Bisky just smiled at me and waved her hand for me to continue.  
"And Chiko was just too much. If she had taken the time to compose herself, she would've done better, but the performance she gave was rushed. Also, the way she's playing her instrument it causing strain on her breathing making it harder for her to play and she can only play for so long. But there was no technicality whatsoever in her performance."  
She then got up and moved towards the window, making the atmosphere even more dramatic than it needed to be.  
"You know, Killua, I was told you before you entered my class. Chairman Netero told me that your family was anything but pleased that you got accepted into the music program and not the business. From what you saw, there are only a few students who enter in the music division because a student playing music needs to be very good to get into this school." She then turned to me. "Even though you played the easiest out of all the instruments for this piece, you made it harder for yourself by adding in challenges. You also added in emotion, which is what makes a good piece a masterpiece. And that's what makes a good Musician. So, I hope I see good things from you,"  
My cheeks flushed and I looked away from her before making my way to the door. "Thanks, I guess."  
"Killua,"  
"Yeah?"  
"Tell them that I made you analyze their performances and I'll expel you."  
I snorted before opening the door. "I don't plan on talking to them for the rest of the day."  
"Figured."  
Ignoring her the best I could, I walked out of the room, and towards the door. The three stared at me as if expecting me to come and sit with them. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I already had a busy roommate hanging around, I didn't need to get comfortable with three other vastly different classmates.  
Making my way towards the exit, I couldn't help but sigh as the pressure within that room faded with each step I took. It was like a hand was hovering over me, ready to swat me to the ground, almost as menacing as the vibe my family gave off, but not quite.  
I pulled it my phone to see my school schedule, which consisted of only the higher-level classes, seeing as I participated in Advanced Placement courses in my other school, which canceled out taking first-year university courses. All I need to do now was to participate in my music classes and, maybe, enjoy myself.  
I exited the building, after checking that I didn't have any more classes that afternoon and made my way back to my dorm, trying to ignore the rumbling in my stomach from the lack of food.  
The campus was extraordinary, to say the least. Each building had its theme, the science and math wing was older with red bricks and smooth marble flooring. The art wing was crisp and sharp, while a sleek, kind of reminding me of my home, but it had the distinct smell of paint and burned wood, which was odd. Other than these two buildings there was the athletic wing and the business classes. The business classes I had no intention of checking out, but the athletic wing did pique my interest.  
I made my way across the courtyard, paying attention to the accents of green patches, which were starting to wilt from the threatening winter approaching. My steps began to slow as I came to the entrance to the dorm building, not sure on whether I wanted to go back and wait for the assignment that Bisky, or one of my other professors, was sure to hand out or to explore the town. Both thoughts battled in my head, but I concluded that spending some time settling into the building would be much more relaxing, compared to having to wander for hours on end.  
I walked into the lobby of the dorm, which was crowded with people. People sitting on couches and talking. People leaning against the walls and talking. People bent over tables with papers and books sprawled our all around them. That's when I picked up that all too familiar voice through the crowd.  
"Anyways, so I decided that maybe that some plant species have different reactions to the types of plants that they are planted with. I'm sure the theories been thought of and experimented with, but I want to see how different plants with different chemical makeups will react with others," Gon yelled as he talked to the blonde at the front desk. Kurapika, I think that was his name but wasn't exactly sure.  
I continued to walk, not all that interested in plants and feeling the strong longing for my bed. That longing made me grip my coffee mug just a little tighter.  
"Oh, Killua!" Gon shouted in my direction, which caused me to freeze and look over at him.  
Knowing that I could play not hearing him off as the entire room had gone quiet, I gave a slight wave and started to walk over to him, my feet moving slower than before. "Hey."  
"Oh, you know Kurapika, right?" Gon asked me as I finally came to stand beside them in front of the front desk.  
I rolled my eyes, "Obviously, who else would've checked me into my room or whatever they call what you do."  
Kurapika only laughed before he gestured towards Gon. "You're quite the character, Killua. I was wondering, did anyone tell you how excited that Gon was to get a roommate?"  
"Really," I turned towards Gon and smirked. "I knew you were the childish type, but that's kiddy."  
Gon pouted and I attempted to hold back my laugh, which failed. "Killua, that's not nice. I don't know why you weren't excited? I mean, this is university, and it's our independence, which means we get to meet new people. I've also never known someone who was my age before, so I got excited when I meet you."  
For a quick second, I felt myself falter. My laughing stopped and I thought back to my past. No, no, I didn't want to do that now. It was only for a second before I regained my composure and nodded, "Sounds like an interesting childhood." I then turned to Kurapika hoping to drop the topic before I let something loose. "So, Kurapika, what are you majoring in?"  
Kurapika's actions darkened at the question, which caught me off guard. "I'm majoring in criminology. Hopefully, I'll be able to graduate and become a detective, so I can investigate and ongoing case."  
Offering a sentimental smile, I gave him a thumbs up. "Hope that goes well for you." I've never been good at comforting people.  
We were all quiet for a second until Gon broke the silence. "How'd your class go?"  
Knowing it was directed towards me, I answered. "There are only four people, including me, so it should be interesting. None of us play the same instrument, so, again, it should make things interesting."  
"How'd the piece go?" It was like he had an arsenal of questions lined up, waiting for the right time for me to answer them. Which was kind of annoying, but not? It was nice.  
I smirked before I pointed towards the stairway. "That is information that I can not disclose in front of so many people. Also, I'm hungry, so I'll tell you about it in the room. I'll leave you two to talk."  
I started to walk away, waving at the both of them, until Gon trotted up beside me. "Ya know, I was being a nice person and allowing you to talk to your friend some more."  
"Yeah, but I've been talking to him for around half an hour and he probably has something to do. Besides, I want to hear what you did. You made it sound like you were on some sort of secret mission."  
I was about to say some about that being childish before my stomach rumbles and my cheeks lit up slightly. "I was also going to tell you I told you so. You should've eaten."  
"Sleep outweighs the need for anything else," I stayed in a matter-of-fact time before we reached the third set of stairs.  
Gon made a noise that was like a groan before he poked my shoulder. "It's still not good for you. I know!" He shouted before stopping in front of me and pointing a finger in my direction. "I'll be the one to wake you up in the morning and make sure that you eat."  
I cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree before I walked past him. "That is the last thing you are doing. I don't need you to treat me like a kid. I wake up fine with my alarm clock and I am more than capable of making my food."  
Gon didn't say anything, which I hoped meant he would drop both the topic of waking up early and eating healthier, but, alas, Gon was not one to back down and he persisted. "Then I'll... break into your phone and set an alarm for an earlier time."  
"Might've worked if you hadn't just told me your plan,"  
"Then I'll play really loud music to wake you up,"  
"I had four other siblings in my house and three adults, I can drown out sound like no tomorrow,"  
That caused Gon to stop before he rushed a stair ahead of me, ceasing any movement I could make.  
"You had four siblings?! What was it like?"  
Remembering my family wasn't exactly happy, but I tried not to let it affect me. "Oldest brother was an overprotective ass, second oldest brother is as fat as he is annoying, younger sister is away at some prestigious private school, and my youngest brother is at another private school."  
Gon's sharp eyebrows frowned as his honey eyes burrowed into me. I could feel my breath hitching and I felt as if he was trying to decipher every little detail about my life. I felt naked under his gaze.  
"That's very vague, Killua," he finally started before beginning to walk again, finally rounding the corner to the door to our hallway. "I don't have any siblings and I was raised by my aunt and grandmother, so I had a small family, but it sounds like you have a huge family. It was probably nicer than you'd like to admit."  
I snorted before following him through the doorway. "My childhood was anything but nice, Gon. My family was always on my back about everything and I never got a break. they just want you to think that we have a nice family." I whispered the last part of my sentence, hoping Gon didn't hear it, which he didn't give away signs of having heard it.  
"Either way, it still sounds cool." He stopped in front of our door and opened it before doing some weird cross between a bow and a before-you hand gesture. I laughed a little bit at that before entering and making my way towards the kitchen, where I set my mug down and began to search through the cupboards to find the most sugary cereal possible.  
Gon sat at the counter in front of me, smiling wide, obviously waiting for me to start talking. Laughing a little, I poured cereal and milk into a bowl and sat down beside him, starting to eat to quench my hunger.  
"So, the class went well. My classmates are pretty good at playing, but they all had something to work on." I started, speaking through a mouthful of cereal. "Then our Professor, Bisky, talked to each of us individually about what we needed to work on."  
Gon leaned towards me, a bit, showing that he was intensely listening to what I was saying like it was the choice between listening to me or death. "Hen what did she say you need to work on?"  
I didn't say anything for a while, trying to put the right words into my mouth. "She said that I needed to work on my personality, because it's too sour, and I need to watch the flare I add to it."  
Sitting back a bit, Gon took in what I said. "Well, that means you played perfectly."  
"Hardly. My performance wasn't perfect, I made a lot of mistakes, but I just covered them up well. But, she probably noticed them but decided that I covered them up well enough that it wasn't worth mentioning."  
We were silent for a while, the only sound was my spoon scraping against the bowl. Finally, Gon sat up and went into the cupboards and filled a kettle with water before setting it on the stove.  
"So," I said while getting up and putting my bowl and spoon into the sink, rinsing it at the same time. "How was your first day of classes."  
He seemed to light up at that question and turned towards mine. "It was awesome. Honestly, there are no words for how great the experience was."  
"What class did you have?"  
"Biology basics,"  
My movements stopped and I just stared at him trying not to laugh, but I failed, letting out a horrible snort before covering my face. "You-you're saying that the best class you've ever been in is-is biology?!"  
"Well, yeah. But it wasn't like a high school class. Every single thing was discussed in detail and everybody had a passion for it. It wasn't just me," he jumped around like a kid in a candy store for a few seconds before he turned back to me and took my hands. "That's right. Because we're both the first year, that means we might have some beginner classes together."

The interaction caused me to tense up and stare at our hands. I could help but notice the contrast in our skin tones, but I shook my head, pulling my hands away. "I don't have any beginner classes, I took them in my last year of high school."

I don't think I'd need to say that I thought Gon would think I was stuck up after that, but, instead, his eyes lit up and he leaned in extremely close. "You're so smart Killua!"

Taken aback, I had to jump off of my chair in order not to tumble backward. "Well, what do you expect," I said before crossing my arms. "I've been to private schools all my life and my family was strict. I couldn't leave that place without having some brains. In fact-"

"Ne, Killua. I just realized, you never told me your last name,"

I froze, not moving an inch. It was probably one of the most stupid mistakes on my part. Then, turning my head to face Gon, I offered up a sheepish smile. "Rubbing the back of my head, I nervously chuckled. "Sorry about. I guess I slipped up a bit. It's Zoldyck."

Expecting him to do the same thing that Chiko had done today, I grimaced, but GOn just nodded. "Killua Zoldyck. Sounds fancy."

I raised an eyebrow at Gon, whose face remained at his neutral smile. "You don't recognize it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Zoldyck industries. One of the greatest generation of business entrepreneurs of this century?"

"Nope,"

I laughed, which seemed like an easy thing for me to do around this idiot, bending forward slightly at the sheer force it caused to shake throughout my body. "You are an idiot aren't you?"

"Killua, what's so funny?"

I turned to him and smiled, before looking away, sitting back down on the chair. "Everyone knows about my family, so I get judged based on that. Kind of funny. It's the main reason people always think I'm extremely stuck up or whatever, so, I just expected you to, ya know, change," I turned to him and shook my head. "But you didn't even know about them. You sure are weird."

The kettle went off and Gon got up, but not before punching my shoulder lightly. "It's not like I'd judge you based on your family. From what I can tell, you're a whole other world of difference from them." He flashed a giant smile at me before walking towards the kettle.

Heat raced up my cheeks and I squirmed slightly in my seat before looking at the floor. "Idiot."


	5. Chapter 5

Gon POV

(Goes from when Killua left the room in the morning)

I watched as Killua left, stifling a laugh at how grumpy he looked. It was obvious that I was going to find endless enjoyment being around him.

"Well, I should probably start getting ready for my first class," I mumbled to myself while setting my dishes into the sink to wash, for later.

I then went into my room and grabbed my phone, heading out to get to class, but not before stopping by Leorio's.

Practically jogging down the hall, I knocked on his door, knowing that he'd be up by now, probably getting ready to go to one of his class or an on-campus coffee house.

My predictions were right. Leorio opened the door for me and smiled, before slipping on his shoes. "I figured you'd stop by or something, so I decided to wait a little bit."

Rubbing the back of my neck, slightly embarrassed about how predictable I could be, I offered a small laugh. "I'm real to easy to understand, aren't I?"

"Definitely," Leorio laughed, before locking me in a headlock as we started to walk down the stairs. "But that's why you're such good friends... most of the time."

My bottom lip jutted out in a pout, which earned something along with a laugh, sounding more like a roar. "Anyways, are you seriously holding a party tonight?"

"Obviously, and you're invited." He let me loose the headlock before pulling out his phone. "I'll send you the information, but I'm sure you'll be able to tell when it starts because it's going to get loud, quick."

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I nodded. "Well, no need to worry. The life of the party is coming. But why are you holding it on a Monday?"

Leorio just shook his head. "And that, my young friend, is where you fall short on being a true University student. We hold parties whenever, wherever, with whoever. It's your fault if you miss class because of a hangover."

Nodding, I couldn't help but unleash a sly smile. "Kurapika's right, the way you speak makes you sound old." That's when I took off and started running down the stairs.

"Why you brat!" Leorio yelled, chasing behind me as I started to skip steps. "Don't tag team on me. You're all just under-educated in life. Why-"

He continued like that for a few minutes, finally stopping when we hit the lobby and earned a few harsh hisses from the students who were still trying to wake up. We each offered or apologies to the room, making a beeline for the exit, and were welcomed with the crisp air that only January could bring.

"So, what class do you have now?" Leorio asked before we started to walk towards the science buildings.

"It's just an introduction to biology, which means a class meet and greets. We're allowed to leave this class early today, but I plan on staying as long as possible to meet others."

"Forever friendly, never change, dude," Leorio sighed before pointing in the opposite direction that I needed to go. "I need to break form you know, but see you at the party."

Jogging in the opposite direction, I waved. "Okay, see ya."

Taking my turn, I walked towards the science sector and entered the building. "If my memory serves right, then I need to turn here, and it's the fifth door down," I whispered, following my directions and made my way down the hall.

Being correct, as I usually way when it came to directions. I entered the room to see a class full of people, probably first years taking the courses as a mandatory course, and I made my way to the front, sitting down beside a kid who had thick eyebrows and a buzz cut.

Everyone in the class seemed to be keeping to themselves and not interacting, so I decided to start a chain reaction, or what I hoped would be one, and I turned to the person beside me.

"HI, I know this is kind of awkward, but my name's Gon, and I'm a biology major," I offered a hand to shake.

The expression that painted to guys faces made me want to laugh, a mix between confusion and disbelief. He pointed at himself and then looked around him. "You're talking to me, right?"

"Yeah, who else would I be talking too?"

He nodded before taking my hand. "My name's Zushi, and I'm majoring in education."

Unclasping our hands, I shifted my position so that I was fully facing him and not, uncomfortably, rotating your torso to talk to him. "Don't you think it's weird that we always offer up or majors. Outside of the university, we'd just say our names."

The way he took my comment made it seem like it was words spoken from Gon, and he seemed to relish the idea. "You know, now that you mention it, it is quite weird."

"I know right. I-"

"Okay, it seemed like the majority of the class is hear, so let's start the class." The professor said, cutting my sentence short.

Offering up an apologetic grin, I turned back to the professor and awaited his instruction. "I am Kite. I studied biology at this university around five years ago and I have been doing explorations across the planet for four years. I'm taking this year off to teach this class and a few others, an honor, I might add. I know that the majority of those who are here only to get their first-year science course out of the way, but, you need to know that I will work just as hard as someone who wanted this to be their profession."

He paused then pointed towards the chalkboard behind him, which raised to display a tv, which displayed an overly dramatic picture of an environment, mixed with some animals that weren't meant to be in it. It just looked wrong.

"For those who want to become biologists and to see the world through the eyes of nature, then you better be prepared for a world where making it is harder than making it into this university. That is all I have to say. Mingle amongst yourselves and be sure to at least now three people because they'll probably become a member of your specific biology groups. Dismissed."

Kite got down from his stand and walked out of the room, leaving us all in awkward and heavy silence. I was in awe. I heard about some of Kite's explorations and discoveries and he was someone that I had looked up to forever. I had been prepared, knowing beforehand that I was going to be my teacher, but I had no idea that he was going to be so, so awesome.

"Hey, spikey hair," I heard a feminine voice say in my general direction and I look up and around until I faced a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Yes?" I asked, cautious about why she was yelling at me. I could hear Zushi up beside me as she trotted over, probably nervous about what was going to happen. I know I was.

Finally, in front of me, she smiled, then offered a hand. "My name's Ella Moores. I saw you from the other side of the room and you seemed to be quite an interesting person, so I decided to say hello."

"Well then, hello," I took her hand and smiled. "My name's Gon and I major in biology."

"Touche, I should probably mention my major." she dropped my hand and clasped her own hands together. "I major in acting, but I have to take these damn first-year class."

I let out a weird mix between a laugh and pout, before I turned to Zushi, "Do people not like these classes? I mean, they're important."

"Well, they do have some sort of importance to them," Ella butted in, sitting down on the chair beside me. "But they're just a constant hassle. I mean, there were options in high school to get them out of the way-"

"Oh," I butted in, basically jumping in my chair. "My roommate said that the first-year course is supposed to be easy." I then stopped, trying to figure out just how Killua would know.

Ella let out a little huff, "He sounds like a smart-ass. Probably thinks highly of himself."

I stopped for a second, taken aback by what she had said. "Hardly. I mean, I only met him on Saturday, but he seems to be pretty chill."

No one talks for a few seconds, creating a slightly awkward silence until Zushi shuffled through his bag and brought out a phone. "If it's okay with you guys," he started, blushing slightly, "could I get your numbers. I don't know anyone here, so it is nice to have a few people on my contact list, so I don't look like a total loser."

"Sure, let me type in my number." Taking his phone, I put in my number, a smile never leaving my face. I was expecting to get to know a few people around campus, besides my roommate and those who I had known beforehand. Now, I had found some people I could get to know, outside of my class.

Handing his phone back, I waited until I felt my phone buzz in my coat pocket, and took it out to see Zushi number flashing on my screen. I then looked over at Ella, expecting her to offer up her number but she just shook her head.

"As much as you two seem like fun, I'll wait until I actually but you down as friends in my head. I don't need boys blowing up my phone. Do you understand what kind of trouble I'd get from my friends?"

Raising one of my eyebrows, I nodded. "I've never really been friends with girls before, so I wouldn't know. But, I don't want to pressure you into doing anything."

I looked around then huffed, getting out of my seat. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys. Hopefully, we'll be in the same groups." I waved then started to walk out of an empty hall, and started to make my way towards the dorm.

Entering the dorm building, I saw a familiar head of blonde sitting at the front desk. Trotting up, I waved a bit until brown eyes trained on me and offered up a small, caring, smile.

"Hey, Kurapika. How are you doing?"

"Okay. I heard about Leorio's party tonight," he groaned, giving me a little glare before looking back at the computer in front of him.

"Yeah. You're going to have your hand full trying to keep everyone in line," I laughed while rubbing the back of the neck.

"I would if I was on duty tonight," he laughed before pointing towards a guy napping on the couch. "I was able to convince my superiors that I should get a today for, seeing as I worked the last few days, which he agreed to."

I flashed a sympathetic glance in the guy's direction, knowing he wouldn't be able to do anything about what was going to go on tonight. Then, turning back to Kurapika, I leaned into the desk and looked down at the textbooks that were neatly tucked into the right corner of his desk. "So, how were your classes?"

"Pretty normal," Kurapika sighed, before turning his attention back to the computer screen. "I mean, today is just introductions, so it's not that hard. At least, not compared to other days. How were your classes?"

"I only had one today, they're all pretty spaced out, so I don't have any classes to tomorrow afternoon."

"That's nice," Kurapika mumbled before raising an eyebrow and gesturing for me to continue.

"Well. It turns out Kite, one of the most notable scientists is teaching my class this year! I am beyond excited to see what he's going to teach us and I hope he'll have answers to questions I've been having for ages."

Finally, he turned back to me, giving me his full attention, "What do you want to ask him about?"

"Well, I have a weird theory that plants, like humans, have different types of reactions to being around each other, kind of due to their chemistry or something like that."

"That would make sense,"

"So I decided that maybe that some plant species have different reactions to the types of plants that they are planted with. I'm sure the theories been thought of and experimented with, but I want to see how different plants with the different chemical makeup will react with others," At this point, I was way tot hyped to control my volume, basically bouncing as I explained my theory.

Kurapika laughed at my enthusiasm until he looked behind me and pointed in the direction of the stairwell. I turned around immediately to see a fluff of white hair bouncing across the room.  
"Oh, Killua!" I shouted at him and waited for him to turn around. As he did he looked a little bit rigid and stood there looking at me, looking like he was having a little discussion in his brain before he started to walk towards me.  
The room, which had gone silent at my shout, began to go back to their things as Killua approached Kurapika and I. "Hey."  
I smiled before pointing at Kurapika"Oh, you know Kurapika, right?"  
At this, Killua rolled his eyes, as if there was an obvious answer to my question. "Obviously, who else would've checked me into my room or whatever they call what you do."  
Kurapika only laughed before he gestured towards me. "You're quite the character, Killua. I was wondering, did anyone tell you how excited that Gon was to get a roommate?"  
"Really," he turned towards me with a smirk painting his face. "I knew you were the childish type, but that's kiddy."  
Pouting, I stood in defeat as Killua was trying to hold back a laugh. "Killua, that's not nice. I don't know why you weren't excited? I mean, this is a university, and it's our independence, which means we get to meet new people. I've also never known someone who was my age before, so I got excited when I meet you."  
Killua seemed to falter. His face went blank and I could tell that I hit something of a 'sore-nerve'. "Sounds like an interesting childhood," he said quickly before turning to Kurapika, looking to change the subject. Something else to ask him about. "So, Kurapika, what are you majoring in?"  
Knowing that, for KUrapika was a touchy subject, I turned to him to see that he had his head held low. "I'm majoring in criminology. Hopefully, I'll be able to graduate and become a detective, so I can investigate and ongoing case."  
"Hope that goes well for you." It was needless to say that Killua didn't sound so confident, obviously not used to having to comfort strangers.  
We were all quiet for a second until I broke the silence. "How'd your class go?"  
Killua just nodded to himself before looking at me. "There are only four people, including me, so it should be interesting. None of us play the same instrument, so, again, it should make things interesting."  
"How'd the piece go?" I could still remember how intense he was when he first played the piece so I was interested in how it went.  
He smirked before pointing towards the stairway. "That is information that I can not disclose in front of so many people. Also, I'm hungry, so I'll tell you about it in the room. I'll leave you two to talk."  
Laughing a little, I started to follow behind him towards the stairway. We walked for a bit before KIllua finally spoke up. "Ya know, I was being a nice person and allowing you to talk to your friend some more."  
"Yeah, but I've been talking to him for around half an hour and he probably has something to do. Besides, I want to hear what you did. You made it sound like you were on some sort of secret mission."  
Killua looked like he was going to say something until his stomach rumbled and a small blush graced his cheeks. "I was also going to tell you I told you so. You should've eaten."  
"Sleep outweighs the need for anything else," he stated, which made me laugh. That was the complete opposite outlook I had on sleep. It was important, but it never got in the way of me being able to explore life.  
After laughing, I pouted a little bit, biting my cheek a bit to stop laughing. "It's still not good for you. I know!" I shouted before stopping in front of Killua and pointing at my sky-eyed roommate. "I'll be the one to wake you up in the morning and make sure that you eat."  
Killua just shook his head walked right past me. "That is the last thing you are doing. I don't need you to treat me like a kid. I wake up fine with my alarm clock and I am more than capable of making my food."  
I tried to think of any other possible solutions, feeling the need to make sure that Killua ate like he was supposed to. After we walked up the stairs a bit, a possible idea came through my head. "Then I'll... break into your phone and set an alarm for an earlier time."  
"Might've worked if you hadn't just told me your plan,"  
That was a good point. "Then I'll play really loud music to wake you up,"  
"I had four other siblings in my house and three adults, I can drown out sound like no tomorrow,"  
I stopped. Killua had never mentioned his family, save for when he complained about going to his private school. So, I expected he would either be a single child or have one sibling but... "You had four siblings?! What was it like?"  
Reluctant to reply, Killua began to speak, his voice staying completely monotone throughout. "Oldest brother was an overprotective ass, second oldest brother is as fat as he is annoying, younger sister is away at some prestigious private school, and my youngest brother is at another private school."  
"That's very vague, Killua," I groaned out, trying to match my pace to Killua's. Despite being shorter than me, he seemed to have longer legs, which equaled a longer stride. All that together made it difficult to keep up with him. "I don't have any siblings and I was raised by my aunt and grandmother, so I had a small family, but it sounds like you have a huge family. It was probably nicer than you'd like to admit."  
Letting out a snort Killua responded, "My childhood was anything but nice, Gon. My family was always on my back about everything and I never got a break. they just want you to think that we have a nice family." I whispered the last part of my sentence, hoping Gon didn't hear it, which he didn't give away signs of having heard it.  
"Either way, it still sounds cool," I commented before stopping in front of our room and gesturing for Killua to enter first. I earned a slight laugh from Killua, and I counted that as a little achievement.  
Taking my spot at the counter, I watched as Killua rummaged around the room, grabbing the cereal we had bought yesterday, a sugary brand he insisted that we buy, and poured it into a bowl. His hand just levitated towards sugar, as if it was the center of gravity itself, and poured it on his cereal. I couldn't help but wince at the thought of how sugary that would taste, but Killua just poured milk over it and ate it as if he hadn't added enough sugar to feed a small country into his cereal.  
"So, the class went well. My classmates are pretty good at playing, but they all had something to work on." Killua said through a mouthful of cereal, making me smile a little wider at his childish demeanor. "Then our Professor, Bisky, talked to each of us individually about what we needed to work on."  
I leaned forward, reading to hear just how great Killua's day was. "Hen what did she say you need to work on?"  
He was quiet, thinking, then, biting his lip, he finally came up with something. "She said that I needed to work on my personality, because it's too sour, and I need to watch the flare I add to it."  
"Well, that means you played perfectly."  
"Hardly. My performance wasn't perfect, I made a lot of mistakes, but I just covered them up well. But, she probably noticed them but decided that I covered them up well enough that it wasn't worth mentioning."  
We were silent for a while, the only sound was Killua spoon scraping the bowl and the crunching from his chewing. Finally, I sat up and went into the cupboards and filled a kettle with water before setting it on the stove.  
"So," Killua, said, washing his dishes, not looking at me as he did so. "How was your first day of classes."  
To be honest, I was waiting since I first saw Killua for him to ask so I could go off about how amazing it had truly been. Although I had only been in class for less than an hour. "It was awesome. Honestly, there are no words for how great the experience was."  
"What class did you have?"  
"Biology basics,"  
He just stared at me for a few seconds, before a cat-like grin inched onto his face and he started to laugh, and honest to goodness laugh. "You-you're saying that the best class you've ever been in is-is biology?!"  
"Well, yeah. But it wasn't like a high school class. Every single thing was discussed in detail and everybody had a passion for it. It wasn't just me," I jumped up and threw my arms around, trying to express just what I felt through my movements, as I often did. A sudden realization came over and I raced over and grabbed Killua's hand, who had, at some point, sat down. "That's right. Because we're both the first year, that means we might have some beginner classes together."

Killua paused for a second, looked at our hands, then shook his head and pulled away from his hands. "I don't have any beginner classes, I took them in my last year of high school."

How cool does Killua get! That raced through my head before I leaned in a little bit too close, as I could see the small freckles dotting KIllua's ghostly complexion. "You're so smart Killua!"

He leaped off his chair, the tips of his ears and his cheeks glowing a soft pink. "Well, what do you expect. I've been to private schools all my life and my family was strict. I couldn't leave that place without having some brains. In fact-"

Wait, Killua never told him his last name. "Ne, Killua. I just realized, you never told me your last name," I interrupted, my curiosity getting the best of me.

I'm pretty sure I heard KIllua utter a few curses before he looked in my direction with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about. I guess I slipped up a bit. It's a Zoldyck."

"Killua Zoldyck. Sounds fancy." I commented before looking at KIllua, who only raised an eyebrow at my reaction, but his eyes gave away that he was shocked.

"You don't recognize it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Zoldyck industries. One of the greatest generation of business entrepreneurs of this century?"

I racked my brain, trying to come up with something, but I failed. "Nope."

He paused, smiling and letting out a chuckled before giving me a smile that I couldn't describe, but it made my heart warm-up. "You are an idiot aren't you?"

"Killua, what's so funny?" I whined, confused.

He sat down beside me but didn't look at me, a small smile gracing his face, but his eyes were sad. "Everyone knows about my family, so I get judged based on that. Kind of funny. It's the main reason people always think I'm extremely stuck up or whatever, so, I just expected you to, ya know, change," That's when he turned to me and smiled a little wider, a small laugh escaping his lips. "But you didn't even know about them. You sure are weird."

The kettle went off and I got up, but not before punching Killua's shoulder lightly. "It's not like I'd judge you based on your family. From what I can tell, you're a whole other world of difference from them."

He hung his head low, mumbling something I couldn't make out, but I poured my tea, then I remembered what Leorio had said earlier. "Oh right," I turned around and Killua was already looking at me from over his shoulder. "There's a party going on tonight. Wanna come?"


	6. Chapter 6

Killua Pov

"What?" I said, turning to fully face Gon.

"I invited you to come to the party. Well, technically, the whole floor is invited, but, I want you to come so you can meet my friends," Gon said before leaning onto the counter, flashing one of those bright smiles at me. I couldn't help but wonder how I didn't see girls crawling all over him, especially when he smiled like that.

Fidgeting, I shook my head. "Sorry, I don't think it'd be a good idea if I went."

"Why, do you have classes tomorrow?" Gon asked, rounding the counter to reclaim his seat.

I just shot him a short glare before rolling my eyes. "Everyone has classes tomorrow, and that is a reason. The other is I'm not a party person."

"Have you ever been to a party?"

I opened my mouth to say something but shut it and stared at the wall in the opposite direction of GOn, before mumbling, "No."

"What did you say?" I could hear a slightly cheeky tone in GOn's voice and I could feel my face start to heat up.

I slowly turned and glared at Gon. "I said 'no'." My voice came out with less bite then I would've liked.

The look Gon gave me made my face heat up a little more. It was a sympathetic look along with so much caring, something I didn't know people could feel especially towards someone they just met. "Well, then, this can be your first party."

I studied his face. The only thing I could see was determination and I knew that this would be a fruitless battle, so to speak. We'd continue to go back and forth and I could see myself giving in in the end. Do I want to put in that sort of effort?

Exasperated, I gave him one more look. "I'll go-"

Gon let out something between a 'whoop' and a 'yes', no proper way to describe it, interrupting me.

"BUT," emphasizing the word to make sure Gon heard me, which he did, "if I want to go, then I'll go."

He was vibrating in his seat, beaming like a child out trick-or-treating. "I'm sure you'll have fun. Kurapika and Leorio will be there."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I could tell that they judged me, in some way at least. Kurapika not as much, but Leorio kept giving off the 'I-don't-like-you' vibe. Nodding my head a little bit, I stood up and stretched, heading towards the couches.

Grabbing the remote I started to flip through the channels. "Sure sure. Anyways, what time do you plan on heading over?"

"Well, I was going to go over in thirty minutes, so..."

Groaning, I sat up and made my way over to my room. "Give me a bit then."

"What are you doing?" Gon asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Changing," I answered, my voice ringing with an obvious tone.

He just continued to stare at me, "But, what you're wearing is fine."

I looked down at my black tee-shirt, sweatpant combo then looked back up at him. "It's not, I'm wearing sweatpants. I'm not going to a sleepover, this is a university party. There's no way I'm going to let these pants get dirty either." He only nodded, before I entered my room and went to my dresser, pulling out a pair of black jeans and a dark blue and white striped long sleeve. Nothing much, not something I'd miss if it gots dirty but better than sweats.

I looked down and noticed that my hands were shaking, I hadn't noticed it before, but suddenly a sinking feeling came over me. Breathing through my nose, I stared at my wall. I shouldn't be this worried. It's not like anything's going to happen. And if something does, it won't matter. I don't know anyone, anyways.

I allowed myself one more breath before I left my room and went back into the main area (I suppose), where Gon was still sitting at the counter, staring at the TV. Looking over at the clock, I noticed it had been ten minutes, which was longer than I had thought.

Making my way over to the couches, I sat down and stared at the TV, until I felt the edge of the couch sag. Gon sat beside me, staring at me with this soft caring face.

"You nervous?"

Shocked, I looked over at him, eyes wide. "What?! No. I'm all good."

As I looked away, he chuckled, causing me to ship my head back at him. "WHat's so funny?"

"You're a really bad liar, you know that?" He said, refocusing on the TV.

I huffed, puffing my cheeks out. "Whatever. DO want to go or not?"

Gon jumped up, running to the door. I followed him at a slower pace and he allowed me to exit the room first, closing, but not locking the door behind him.

Then, taking the lead, he leads me towards the dorm where the party was going to be, mainly, held. Knocking on the door, we waited a few seconds before a grim-looking person opened the door.

"What do you want?" he asked in the most pissed voice possible, setting me on edge.

"We're here to see Leorio, you must be his roommate." Gon said.

Shit, I feel bad for the old guy, I thought before looking away.

"If you're here for the party it doesn't start till six, so you're early,"

I shot Gon a glare out of the corner of my eye. We didn't need to be here this early, so why are we here. Gon just laughed. "I know were earlier for the party, but does that stop us from coming over to talk to Leorio?"

I the grim guy just stared at us for a few seconds before he opened u the door all the way, allowing us to see into the room. It was just like ours, from what I observed, except it was littered with drinks and alcohol, along with tons of food and other random crap.

"Not the cleanest," I mumbled before entering. Leorio rounded the corner, probably having heard our conversation.

Shooting a short, but annoyed, look at his roommate, who shrugged it off and went into one of the rooms. "Sorry about him. He's just grumpy all the time. How are you two?"

Gon instantly looked over at Leorio and smiled. "Great, my first day of classes was so much fun." He made himself comfortable on the couch.

I stood off in the corner, still looking around the room, my hands shoved into my pockets to prevent them from shaking.

"Jesus," Leorio started, pointed in my direction. I turned and looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "You had so much snap at the store and now you look like a lost puppy."

I snorted, "The reason I look like this is that I'm lost on how you place can look so messy when you plan to have people over."

Leorio stopped at that and Gon just laughed. Leorio was stuttering, trying to say something, when he just shut his mouth, grumbling about disrespecting your elders. Continuing to look around, I spotted a stereo in the corner. It looked old and like setting a cup on it would cause it to break.

Turning to Leorio, who was talking to Gon on the couch, I cleared my throat. Catching their attention, I pointed at the stereo, "Do you plan on using that?"

"Yeah, why?" Leorio questioned, walking to examine his stereo.

I snorted and just shook my head. "How do you plan on playing good music on that thing. Anything with a good bass will tear it apart." I crouched and started to look at the settings. "God, it doesn't even have distorter-"

"A what?" Leorio asked crouching down beside me.

"A distorter. It changes the sound. It stops any 'fuzzy' or 'gritty' sound. Without it, the sounds worse and you can't raise the volume that well," I explained half-heartedly You're party's going to suck, dude." I let a sly grin grace my face.

He groaned. "Damn, that bastard that sold it to me must've known. If I ever see him, I'll kill him. So, what do I do now?"

"I don't know," I answered, trying to think of a solution. I looked over to see Gon staring at me with a grin on his face. "What are you smiling about?"

"You could play your-"

"No, I'm not doing that Gon. I probably won't even be here the whole time,"

Leorio stared at the stereo for a few more seconds. We were all lost for a solution to this when an idea crossed my mind.

Why not lend my amp?

I shook my head and let the idea slip, but it kept coming back. If we put it somewhere where people couldn't reach it, then maybe, but I'd be leaving early.

I sighed, before standing up and walking towards the door. "I'll be back," I mumbled leaving and walking out the door.

This was, quite possibly, the worst Idea I had had in a long time. I had saved up for that amp forever and used it like no tomorrow. It was, after my guitar, my most prized possession.

Damn, sometimes I'm too nice.

I walked into our dorm, then into my room, hoisted my amp up and made my way back to Leorio's dorm.

"This is so stupid," I grumbled once entering the dorm and gaining their attention. Gon just stared at my amp for a few seconds.

Leorio looked up at me, still sitting in at a crouch. "Wha-"

"You can use my amp," I interrupted, setting it down. "SO long as you put it out of reach. It there's so much as a scratch on it, you'll be buying me a whole new amp, and they're not cheap."

I could see Leorio shiver, sensing the total seriousness in my voice before nodding. "Thank you so much. I swear I'll protect it with my life."

"You'd better," I mumbled before picking it up again and looking around the room. "Where's a good place to put it?"

Padding towards me, Leorio took it from my hands, "Don't worry about it, I'll set it up. I'm not so dumb I don't know how to hook up speakers. I'll just need help with the tuning, or whatever it's called."

I watched as he started to walk around, looking for a place to put it. That's when Gon came over to me, smiling.

"I still don't see why you think you're a mean person."

I stopped at the sudden comment, "What are you talking about?"

"I know you're attached to anything that has to do with your music, so that must've been a hard decision," His small smile reached his eyes, stunning me like it always did.

I blushed and turned away. " 's not that big of a deal. But if he does break it, he's buying it."

"I'll make sure he holds up that deal," Gon said before picking up a chip bowl and walking over to the couch. I followed, grabbing my bowl and sitting down in a chair.

For the next while, I helped Leorio set up my amp, making sure it was as far away from any possible hazards, but close enough that it would work. After that, we sat around, talking, Leorio doing a weird toast to getting older and achieving new things (I wasn't really listening to him because he had already been drinking, almost drunk).

That's when a knock came on the door and we all looked over at the clock, which stated it was seven o'clock. I could feel my pulse begin to race, but I took a breath and watched as an almost drunk Leorio meet people at the door, handing them a spiked punch.

Everything went off and people started yelling, cheering and talking. It was loud. No other word to properly describe it. A bunch of people had started to dance around in the room and, as if in the queue, other rooms around the floor started to blast music, opening their doors to welcome people in.

I sighed, only half an hour into the party a bored beyond compare. Staring at the drink in my hand, I took another sip, leaning against the wall. I could feel the warm liquid slip through my system, but it did nothing for me.

Scanning the room, people were pressed up against each other, grinding, making out, slipping away, being drunk.

I cringed at the thought, then I eyed the door. It looked like such a pleasing option, and I wasn't doing anything anyway. Setting down my drink, I started to make my way towards the door when a girl stepped in front of me.

Her breath reeked of alcohol and her cheeks were extremely flushed. "Hey-a hotty, how you doin'?"

I couldn't help the groan I let out, stepping around her and making my way towards the door.

"Ohh, playing hard to get. I can play with that." she slurred, grabbing my arm and stopping me.

I turned towards her, prying her off of my arm. "Listen, I don't want trouble, so leave me alone." Believing that was the end of it, I turned back and walked towards the door when the girl started to follow me.

"That sounds more like an invitation than a no hun," she purred at me going to grab at my arms again before an arm slung around my shoulder and a familiar laugh rang in my ear, along with the strong scent of alcohol.

"Come on, bae," Gon said louder than necessary, not sparing a glance at the girl behind me, dragging me away, my face completely blushed.

Once we were out of Leorio's dorm and in the clear, Gon sighed. "Sorry if that was weird, Killua. I just saw her hanging around you."

I tried to cover my blush, walking towards our dorm. "It's all good. So, thanks for that."

Gon only laughed and continued to walk with me. Noticing the direction we were walking in, he looked at me. "Are you already done with the party? It's only been half an hour."

I nodded, coming to our apartment and walking into the welcoming silence. "This so so much better," I whispered, finally able to listen to my voice.

"Was it not good?" Gon asked, voice sad and slurred.

I looked at him, "It was... okay, but I'd still rather be at alone."

Gon just nodded, before he closed the door and trotted over to the couch. He sat down and patted the spot beside him, turning on the TV.

"Are you not going back to the party?" I asked, walking slowly towards him.

"Nope," he said, popping the p while shaking his head. "I'm going to stay here with you, so you'll be happy."

Raising an eyebrow, I shook my head. "You don't need to, Gon. You should go back to the party. All your friends are there."

"So what!" He jumped up and stood in front of me.

I took in a deep breath, starting to get a picture of what a drunk Gon was like. I let loose a sigh and looked at Gon, whose cheeks were now flushed. "You're so difficult," I mumbled. "Gon, you don't have to feel bad for me. I'm perfectly fine. SO go and have fun. You don't have to be holed up with me."

"NO," he yelled than lunged forward. I don't know what I expected, but he grabbed my waist and hoisted me off of the ground bridle style and fell backward.

I grabbed his shirt, one hand covering my mouth to cover my scream as we fell. Then we stopped, sitting on the couch.

It took a few seconds before I realized the position we were sitting in. I was sitting in Gon's lap as he moved his arms around as that they were both around my waist. He was giggling like a fool, staring at my face.

"You looked so scared, Killua," he laughed.

I hit him on the head, "Stop it, let go of me, you idiot."

"Ow," Gon groaned but didn't let go of me. Shaking his head, he reached forward, tipping me back, causing me to grab his shoulders, and grabbed the remote.

Once he was sat back, I turned back and glared. "Let me go."

He looked at me for a few seconds, a pout on his face. "But I wanna cuddle with Killua."

"Dude, I don't care how clingy you get when you're drunk, we've only known each other for three days, so let me go."

My attempt to reason with him went over his head. "Do you not like sitting on my lap?" I felt my blush increase.

"What?! Gon, that's got nothing- just let go of me," I whined starting to pull away, only to be pulled right back.

He was laughing again, flipping through the channels. "I think you're just embarrassed, so you don't want to admit you like it."

"Shut up, idiot," I grumbled before looking away. We sat in silence, the only sound was the TV in the background, Gon not letting go of me. "Fine," I mumbled, conceding to the drunk Gon's wishes and tried to run my neck to see the TV. "At least let me turn around so I can see."

He allowed me to get up so I could turn around, still ready to jump if I tried to get away, and he folded his legs. Blushing, I sat down on his legs, the tips of my ears burning and crossed my legs on top of his.

You'll be stuck here for a while, so may as well be comfortable, I told myself while GOn flipped through the channels.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked me, setting his chin on my shoulder.

"I don't care, idiot,"

He only laughed, picking some random movie that I didn't even know the title of and played it.

My heart was racing at being so close to him and with his head on my shoulder, it was causing me to have a heart attack. As the movie continued to play, I began to get used to it, coming to terms that I could be stuck like this for a while, so I relaxed as much as I could and paid attention to the movie, which was a very explosive action movie.

Something rumbled against my back, shaking me out of sleep. I groaned and tipped my head to the side, only to have my nose bump into something. I slowly opened my eyes, my vision filled with a mixture of tan browns and whites. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, only to see Gon look down at me and everything just flooded back.

Cheeks turning pink, I got off of Gon and covered my face.

I fell asleep

I had fallen asleep while sitting on a drunk Gon. Now a sober Gon was sitting on the couch and staring at me with a grin.

I looked at him, face probably bright red, mouth opening and shutting as I tried to think of something to say.

"I-umm- last night- umm-," I was stuttering nonstop and Gon was just grinning. Sighing, I looked away, "Sorry."

Gon got up and just pat me on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I have no sense of personal space when I get drunk. No need to apologize."

I let a breath I didn't know I was holding out and glanced over at the clock. It was seven am, much earlier than I would've liked to get up, but whatever. Making my way over to the coffee machine I began to make coffee.

"You know, Killua." I hummed in response. "I never would've guessed you would've to cuddle with me. I thought you would've kicked me or ran."

Turning my head, I raised an eyebrow. I thought about how I was supposed to word what I wanted to say. "Do you- Don't you remember?"

"Not really," Gon said, putting on a kettle of water on the stove.

I blushed, not wanting to remember what had happened. "You picked me up and sat on the couch. I couldn't've kicked you or ran away."

Gon just stared at me then made the 'o' shape with his mouth before going to the cupboard to grab his tea. "Then I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing when I get drunk, so I can't stop myself, but I've never done something really bad."

"I get it," I replied. "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter, Killua. If it bugs, you then you should've said something to me. I'm sure I would've stopped. Don't worry about hurting my feelings."

I didn't say anything but nodded and turned back to my coffee, which was getting near to done.

That's right. It was just a drunk Gon move. Nothing else.


	7. Chapter 7

Gon POV  
From the incident after Leorio's party, which had been a success, Killua and I got along like two peas in a pod.  
We both had the same opinions on soap operas (horrible), we both could have our stubborn streaks— through my streaks lasted for longer lengths of time and were more frequent. Otherwise, there was little we ever disagreed on.  
At this point, I consider Killua to be my best friend and one of the most important people to him. On occasions that I would tell him so, his cheeks would turn a noticeable pink and he'd mumble something like, "Don't say embarrassing things." It took me a while to realize that that was Killua's way of saying it back.  
Of course, we did have our disagreements. Many were from me waking up too early, being too loud, or when Killua would spend three days without sleeping or would laugh the milk carton out of the fridge. But, they mostly ended there.  
It was now approaching the third week of February, or — as I like to call it — Valentine's week. The week where everyone began to look for someone the partner up with and hopefully complete their dreams of finding a long-lasting relationship. But, I suppose, this is one of the things that Killua and I disagree on.  
"Valentine's? I think it's stupid," he mumbled through his coffee while examining some sheet music.  
I leaped over the couch when I heard what he said and ran towards him as fast as I could. "What?! Why?"  
Being used to my antics, he only looked up at me before returning to his work. "I said 'I think it's stupid'."  
"I know, I heard you. But why?"  
He only stopped writing for a second before he put down his pencil and sighed. "Look, I got nothing against it, it just kind of redundant." He stopped for a second before he realized he needed to explain more. "Well, when a couple gets together they have their anniversaries, and, depending on how cheesy the couple is, it's more than one. Then you throw in all the other holidays or significant moments in the relationship, and there's, even more, the celebration of your 'success'. So why give couples another holiday when there are single people that don't have any holidays whatsoever. It's just, like I said, redundant. Besides, it's just become a money-grab holiday."  
I'd like to say that I stopped and thought about Killua's points and been a little smoother then what I did do, but, I didn't.  
"What's that supposed to mean?! Valentine's is supposed to be the day where everyone searches for their love and makes valiant efforts to confess. It's a day where people show how much they love each other. It isn't redundant, it's meaningful."  
Killua didn't respond, he just shook his head and went back to his work. I thought that was the end of our discussion, but then he spoke. "You only say that because you're the type of person that gets dates for Valentines."  
I couldn't think of a way to come back to that one. I had always been the guy that all the girls liked, I knew that and I liked talking to people, so I didn't see what the problem was. I had never thought that it would've skewed my views on holidays, but now I had Killua to remind me of the other side.  
He had never been in a relationship, he had only ever danced with girls, and that was when forced gym classes. He had told me this a while back and he was embarrassed about it. Took him three days to spill the whole thing— at least, I think.  
So, here we had Killua who had only had his shitty family (save for his sister, Alluka) to spend holidays think this.  
Finally, I came up with an idea. "How about we get you a date for Valentines then?"  
It had been a while since I've seen Killua jump that high while sitting. He looked like he had just stuck his hand in a socket, face bright red and hair standing on end.  
"N-no. No, you are not getting me a date," he yelled at me, voice cracking slightly.  
"Oh take the stick out of your butt," I laughed while he continued to try to find a way to get out of my idea. "Who knows, you might find your true love."  
I watched as he looked away and shook his head. "It's okay, I don't want a date, much less to be in a relationship. I don't have time."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Between school, studying, and having time to myself, I don't have a whole lot of time to date."  
"That's a lie," I sat down beside him, "You always have time to hang out with me, so you have time to date."  
When I said this, something passed over his face in a quick second, but I couldn't place what it was. He just shook his head then went back to his work, "I'm not going on a date, Gon, so stop trying."  
Sensing the grim air that looked over Killua, I got up and went into the kitchen, but kept an eye on him as he sat on the floor, hunched over his work on the coffee table.  
Just what are you so afraid of?

Today was the thirteenth, and I was still attempting to get Killua to consider going out on a date for Valentine's Day, but each time he'd have an excuse.  
"I have an exam next week,"  
"My classmates are trying to put together a study group,"  
"I'll probably be caught up thinking about school,"  
But the one he used the most was,  
"Why would anyone want to go out with me?"  
As soon as he had said the last one, I realized that I was probably pushing into an unknown issue Killua had. I wanted to know more because Killua was always shrouded in mystery, and I might learn something about him, but I refrained from doing so and finally stopped bugging him... about getting a date.  
"At least come with me to the bar. Don't keep yourself cooped up in the dorm," I said, attempting to persuade him to get out.  
"Maybe I like being 'cooped up' in the dorm," he replied with no emotion in his voice.  
"Killua~" I whined, dropping down to sit beside him on his bed.  
"Whining won't get you anywhere Gon," He mumbled before starting running his fingers over the strings of his guitar.  
I sighed, before falling back on my plan b. I grabbed the neck of Killua's guitar and, with caution, I pulled it out of his hands. He looked up at me dumbfounded before jumping up and giving me a cold stare.  
"Gon." His voice sounded like a snake, ready to launch itself and kill its victim. "Give it back."  
Letting loose a nervous, but steady, grin I announced, "Make me." I instantly regretted it.  
Killua just took a step forward before he swung out his leg, connecting it with the back of my knees, and causing me to fall.  
As I fell, he grabbed his guitar out of my hands and set it on the bed before crouching in front of me.  
"I didn't think that I needed to say this, Gon," I shivered as his breath ghosted my face and was his cold words, matching his glare, entered my ears. "But the next time you so much as think of taking my guitar away from me, I will hit you so hard you'll end up in the hospital. Okay?"  
I laughed nervously, before nodding and watching Killua stand up.  
Gathering the last bit of pride I had for that day, I jumped up and chased after him as he walked into the kitchen area.  
"I'm sorry, but please come. I promise that I won't force you to stay, just come-"  
"Look, Gon. You saw what happened at the last party I went to. I didn't do anything. It's just a waste of my time."  
I was silenced for a few seconds, mouth opening and closing for a while before I finally gave.  
"Okay. You win,"  
Killua only nodded before pouring a cup of coffee and walking over to the TV, where he turned it into an action movie.  
I didn't waste a second and sat down beside him.

The next day, Valentine's day, there was a blizzard, or, I thought it was.  
"This is far from a blizzard. Two inches of snow never hurt anybody," Killua announced before sitting on the floor at the coffee table, schoolwork spread out in front of him.  
Though Killua may have thought it wasn't a big deal, the whole city of Yorknew thought it was, so everything was canceled.  
"Whelp, there goes everyone's Valentine's Day plans," I groaned before sitting on the couch behind Killua.  
We didn't say anything for a while before Killua started to hum the tune of the music he was working on. ( I still don't know what he was doing with it)  
I listened to his humming, which was spectacularly in tune. It made me wonder what his singing voice would sound like. This put me in a daze for a while before I felt a soft fluff against my knee. I looked down to see Killua leaning back against the couch, slouched enough that his hair was brush against my knee.  
So fluffy   
I didn't know I was reaching out until I felt the rest of Killua's hair under my hand and Killua tense up.  
"Gon, what are you doing?"  
Trying to think of an excuse that didn't sound childish, I gave up. "Your hair looked soft, so I wanted to pet it."  
Not being able to see Killua's face, I wasn't able to see how he had responded to my answer. Eventually, he did speak, though his voice was quiet. "Pet it?"  
I only nodded, which I knew he couldn't see, but I guess being around each other for the past month and a bit had gotten us used to our responses and actions, so he just sighed and returned to his work.  
Taking that as an okay, I continued to pet his hair while looking out at the snow.  
"Where did you grow up?" I asked.  
"Kukoru Mountain." A pause. "You grew up on Whale Island, right?"  
"Yep,"  
"I'm guessing there wasn't much snow then. Must've been warm all the time." He returned to writing on his music.  
I let myself play with his hair a little. "Yeah. Pretty much summer all year, but I loved it. I could go outside all the time and I wouldn't have to worry about getting cold or anything." I allowed myself to reminisce about Whale Island for a bit while Killua hummed.  
I watched as he continued to write on the page before I got an idea. Jumping up off of the couch and racing towards the kitchen, I could feel Killua's eyes watching me as I carried out my plan.  
Fishing through the cabinets, I started to pull out the ingredients for cookies and motioned for Killua to join me.  
"What're you doing?" He asked moving to sit on the island stools.  
"I'm going to make cookies and you're going to help me," I stated before pulling out a recipe book my aunt had given me and turned to the desired page.  
I slide it over to Killua who accepted it and got up and moved to stand beside me at the counter. "They sound good," he mumbled before he set the book down and turned to grab two large bowls from the cabinets. "I'll take dry ingredients if you don't mind."  
I let a smile break out on my face before I slide the flour, sugar, etc. over to Killua.  
Reading the directions he began to measure mix with great accuracy while I began my mixture of the wet ingredient. Getting water, eggs, etc. I turned to see that Killua had already been stirring, but was making a mess. White clouds of flour puffed up as he mixed and once in a while, the contents would spill out the side of the bowl. All the while, Killua had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth, just slightly, and his blue eyes were completely focused on the task at hand.  
At this point, I had poured in all of my ingredients and was beginning to mix when Killua stirred the mix just wrong and ended up flinging the mix into his shirt.  
We both stopped what we doing before we looked up at each other. My cheeks puffed a bit as I tried to hold back a laugh, but little bits of it were escaping.  
"Hey, don't laugh at me," Killua groaned, looking back down at his shirt before looking back at the bowl. I couldn't have missed the grin that cut through Killua's face, eyes glimmering with a mischievous edge.  
"Wha-" I began but was interrupted by dry substances hitting me in the chest. I looked down at my shirt, then up at Killua who was laughing his pants off, hand resting inside the bowl. "You wanna play that way?"  
I lunged for forward, Killua stepping back a few steps trying to control his laugh and eat away from me, grabbed a handful of the dry and dumped into Killua's hair. He stopped laughing for a second and rubbed the top of his head with the hand that didn't have anything in them, but grabbed my shirt, pulled it back and let loose the load.  
Our eyes met, challenge dancing in both of our eyes, and we each grabbed another handful. We whipped the dry ingredients at each other — an unsaid agreement between us that we wouldn't use the wet stuff— and began to dance around the kitchen.  
A few minutes later, flour was all of the floors after Killua had the brilliant idea to grab a handful of it, and I followed without hesitation. We were also covered in flour, able to be mistaken as a ghost, which wasn't hard for Killua but was hard for me.  
We now sat on the floor, panting and letting small laughs float off of our mouths.  
"That was fun," Killua sighed before looking around at the mess. "It's gonna be a pain to clean, though."  
"But it was worth it," I hummed in response, before standing up and offering Killua a hand up. He took it, let go and turned and grabbed a broom from the broom closet, beginning to clean up.  
As the clean up commenced, we would laugh a bit, talk about our classes. "Killua would complain about how loud Bisky and the rest of his classmates were, while I told him about how much I was learning in my biology classes.  
It had been silent for a few seconds after we had finished cleaning up before Killua turned to me and smiled.  
It was one of those rare smiles that he would allow to cross his face when he was happy, or relaxed. And, for reasons unknown, I felt my heart flutter at the sight.  
"Your such a dork," Killua laughed before walking towards his bedroom.  
"What? What brought that on?"  
"Nothin', just thought you needed to know that," he answered from inside his room and then came out a few seconds later with clean clothes. "I'm going to take a shower."  
I watched as he disappeared into the bathroom.  
My heart tightened and my stomach flipped as I forced myself to look away from the closed door.


	8. Chapter 8

Killua POV

Long past the events of the Valentine's Day food fight, we continued our studies with a certain type of determination that I knew would burn out.

Of course, said determination consisted of spending hours on end studying for tests that would soon read their nasty heads, but, by the time it reached marched, the closest thing I ever got to a test was the first-day examination.

Bisky was always critiquing our work and attempting to make us better all-around musicians. She'd focus on the professional presentation that we put forward and our posture during playing. She'd drill us on every Latin term that could have to do with music and near killed us with the number of hours we'd spend in her office, listening to our assignments for the weekend.

Though she could be an old hag, she helped us all improve, extensively— but that's to be expected of a Hunter University Music Class.

As for the other three in the room, I found them each to have their auras.

Sheila was quiet and reserved, kind of like a mouse, but give her a piece of jazz or pop music and she could light up the room like a concert on her bass.

Ian was stiff and snobby beyond compare, much like the kids at my old school, but he always made sure to listen when we were being taught. As for his music, I can't say much they hen the fact that he was like a robot. Perfect precision, but only playing exactly what was written out on the paper; whether that's good or bad, I have yet to decide.

Lastly, there's Chikio, who insists on being called Chi. Out of everyone in the class, she's the one I have the most complaints about, but it's only because I spend the most time with her. On the second day of class, she sat right beside and wouldn't shut up until I would respond to her questions, and from there out, we formed a little band— consisting of me being peeved and her laughing.

In class, she's as good as a bassoon player could come, always playing with the right amount of vigilance but knowing when to back off, which I respect.

Now, I sit, staring out the window with a blank stare, listening to the latest update in the musical community, which Chi had already updated me on— the girl knows her way around.

One more day until Easter break raced through my head in a vicious cycle, trying to block it the sudden squeak came from Sheila.

Probably just heard about the death of that pop star... or was it a jazz musician?

Tanned fingers snapped in front of my face, followed by the jingle of metal brackets, and me refocusing into my environment.

"Earth to Killua, the man of wonders," Chi yell-whispered in my face, as to not catch Bisky's attention.

"Hmm," I responded before looking over at her now pastel blue hair. "Whadda ya want?" I slurred, still a little drizzly from my zone out.

"I was going to ask where you're going for Easter Break. I'm going to the Bahamas with my family, so you can't count on me for company."

I rolled my eyes, "I'd call Hisoka the Drama teacher for company, before I'd call you, Chi."

Slightly gasping, and dramatically putting a hand on her chest, Chi faked a pout. "That hurts Kil. Here I am trying to start a convo, but you ignore then diss me."

"All in a day's work," I smile before turning my attention to the clock above the board.

"But now you're ignoring my question, which means that you don't have plans, or..."

I could feel my heart start to race. Around a week, or two, ago, I had confessed to myself that I probably— yes— had a small— big— thing for Gon; which I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for the lovely rainbow headed, basically looking for a gay friend, Chi.

I don't know whether to thank her or completely cut her out of my life.

"... You plan on spending your time with Gon,"

That's what I was waiting for.

"Shut it, Chi, or you can forget about me explaining advanced improvisation theory tonight."   
She only laughed and shook her head. "I'll say it once again, you should just ask him out or something. I can ship you two."

"I can say that that will not be happening, anytime soon. The guys probably straight as an arrow."

"While you bend at 90-degrees for that boy?"

"Shut it."

This is what many of my classes consist of, the bickering between Chi and I, which everyone just elects to ignore, then around ten to twenty (ish) minutes of actual work.

Bisky's timer goes off and I stuff my books into my bag before slugging it over my shoulder. "And no, I don't have plans for the break, due to the fact my family consists of shits," I respond to her question before beginning to walk towards the door.

Chi, phone in hand, falls into step beside me as we head in the general direction of the student dorms. "Yeah, I figured as much. That being said," she turned her phone off and punched me— not so softly— in the arm, "You should do something other than being a lonely blob."

"That, Chi, is offensive to all lonely blobs. I'm an anti-social parasite. If you're gonna insult me, do it properly," I responded, avoiding her gaze. We continue to cross the courtyard when a familiar laugh rang through the air— the same one I thought would've been annoying at first, by now found it fueled my urge to smile.

Resisting the urge to both smiles and look for the source of the laughter, I continued to look forward— hoping she wouldn't notice.

But, she noticed anyway.

"Ohhh, I hear something, or should I say someone," she started to poke me in the shoulder, which was a little hard for her, seeing as she was only 5' feet tall— a good foot shorter than me. I batted at her hand, which only made her poke me harder.

Finally, I took two large steps, putting her a good meter behind me and I didn't look back, or pay attention o her whining, the memories of how she got me to confess to myself coming back.

\--------------------------------------- 

"Nice room. It's all spotless and white, kinda like you," Chi chided, before setting her books down on the counter.

"Well fuck you. At least I don't color my hair with a pastel rainbow."

She only laughed in response to opening her messy binder and pulling out a pile of loose-leafs, putting them into my hands. "This is what I'm confused about."

"It looks like everything," I mumbled before sifting through the papers and sighing. Racking my brain for the best possible attack to curing Chi of her obvious ignorance to all things considered to be music theory, an arm wrapped around my waist, causing me to tense up.

My grip on the papers remained tight before I looked up to see a grinning Gon. "Gon, what the literal fuck." My voice didn't stay steady and I knew that my face was already lighting up with the heat.

He laughed at my face, before squeezing my hip once more, ruffling my hair, and walking towards the door. "You're such a hoot, Killua. Sorry, I just wanted to surprise you before I went to class." That's when he noticed Chi and jogged up to her, offering a hand. "Hi, I'm Gon, Killua's roommate. Oh gosh, I feel so horrible for not noticing you were here. "

"It's no problem, Gon," she took his hand, sending a quick little smirk my way. "My name's Chi, Killua's classmate, and the school's Gay-Straight Alliance co-director."

Gon quickly raised an eyebrow, before smiling, seeming to register who she was. "Now I know who you are. Killua's talked about you a bit."

"Same goes for you,"

They looked at each other for a few seconds before the finally dropped their handshake and Gon pointed towards the door. "I gotta get to class now. Nice meeting you," he walked by and, once again, ruffled my hair. "See ya later, Killua."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled as he exited and I turned to Chi, who was smiling at me like a child on Christmas.

Maybe, I should've been more cautious about introducing Chi and Gon. Maybe I shouldn't have let it happen right after Gon did one of his weird touchy things, but it happened, and there's nothing I regretted more... well, at that moment.

Continuing to stare at me, she took back her papers and laughed a little. "When you mentioned being friends with your roommate, I never heard anything close to being his boyfriend."

Heat raced up my neck and rested like an anvil on my cheeks and the tips of my ears. "WH-at, no! It's not like that!" I yelled, grabbing the papers from her hand and made my way to sit down on the couch.

"Hmm, seems like someone needs to help more then I do,"

"Chi, do you want me to help you or not?" I whined, putting the sheets down on the coffee table.

She was quiet for a second before she sat down beside me. She took a sheet and looked it over. "You know, you can talk to me if you need too."

I bit the inside of my cheek before I leaned back, pushing my wrists into my eyes. After a few seconds of that, I dropped my wrists and looked at the ceiling. I evaluated what good it would do me to talk to someone about this way too confusing feelings and thoughts.

It'd be nice to get off my chest, I thought.

Sighing, I sat up, leaning my elbows on my knees. "Feelings are so fucking confusing," I whispered before rubbing my hands together.

Chi nodded, before putting a hand on my forearm. "Yes. That they are."

"I don't know what's going on half the time and I get. I don't know. Fluttery? I guess? But that's only when I'm around him... It's so jumbled up in my head."

"Ki,"

I looked up at the short form of my name that she had only ever used once— which was when I had been having one of my 'everybody-fuck-off -days'. She only uses it when she's trying to connect with me or be serious. Go figure.

"Remember that one time I asked you on your sexual preference?"

"Still trying to forget it," I racked a small smile. "Did I mention how asking people what gender they're attracted to, during their third conversation ever, isn't socially acceptable?"

She slapped my arm before laughing a little, "I'm trying to be serious. Anyways," she regained her composure. "We talked about it and I concluded that you'd probably be asexual or demisexual."

"And you were leaning towards the idea of me being asexual, but what are you getting at?"

"That was before I saw how you looked at him. Boy, you be a demi, and you be demi for that guy,"

My cheeks lit up and I shook my head, "Nope, you're wrong, and you can't prove you're right."

That's when the Grinch grin took over her face. "That is where I got you." Jumping up, she stood before me as if she was prepared to give a presidential speech. "Before today, you referred to Gon as your one and only friend, save for me. At first, I believed you, and it would make sense for someone to be so caught up in their one friend in life," she began to pace, "But, as it became more evident to me that you weren't the type to fancy over someone so much."

"Not only that but every time you talk about him-"

"Can you stop?" I groaned, rolling a hand over my face.

"No. As I was saying, you became shy and quiet whenever I asked you to try to describe him, and you'd pick your words a little too carefully, but you'd become this ball of happiness whenever you'd tell me about what you guys did the last day."

She stopped for a second and smiled this empathic, yet, sad smile at me. "And you flushed up when he touched your hip and you even allowed him to touch your hair, twice. Killua,"

Stopping again, she sat down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. I was a tense ball of stress, hanging onto the edge of her words. Her face rested in a serious form, a rarity on her face. I waited for her next words.

Or maybe I should've expected a sound. I should've expected a sound.

She busts out into a squeal, her face scrunching up as a grin threatened to consume her. I jumped back a bit, shocked by the sudden turn of events. Hands balled up into fists and she danced a bit before grabbing my hands and squeezing them. "I ship it so much."

To be expected.

\---------------------------------------

I think that's what finally got me to admit to these damn annoying feelings, which helped a little, but caused a few more problems, such as; What does Gon feel? Is everything going to stay normal?

What the fuck do I even do?

"You little shit, don't use your giant legs against me," Chi hissed, grabbing the sleeve of my sweater with her fake nails.

I laughed a bit. "You can't call me a little shit then turn around and complain about me being tall. "

"Watch me,"

I shook my head as we entered the dorm building, heading up towards my dorm.

\--------------------------------------- 

"And, that's the main principle to improvisation," I state, tapping my pencil on Chi's paper. She hummed and at that moment we both turned at the sound of the door opening.

Gon walked in and saw the two of us hunched over at the coffee table, papers everywhere. "Oh, oh, oh. I wanna guess what you're studying."

He dropped all of his stuff and looked over the papers. "It doesn't count if you look at what-"

"Improvisation!" he declared with the utmost confidence.

"No shit, Sherlock. " I rolled my eyes and stood up, stretching my arms until I heard a crack in my back.

Chi put her hands to her ears and cringed, "That's nasty."

I looked over at Gon and we both leaned down on either side Chi and began to crack every limb that we could.

"Stop it, stop it. You two are the worst," she yelled while grabbing her papers and throwing them into her black hole of a binder. "I'm leaving so I don't have to be surrounded by your horrible beings."

"But I thought you liked us," Gon fake pouted, before CHi stuck her tongue out at us and left, but not before slipping me a quick thumbs up.

Damnit, Chi

It was quiet for a few seconds before Gon continued to look over the papers and put them into an ordered pile by dates. I started to do the same, and we proceeded to do so in a—what I would classify as — comfortable silence.

"So, how were your classes?" I asked, knowing this conversation could fill the silence for hours.

Gon stopped putting things into the pile and smiled his blinding smile. "Well, we went out to the city park to be in touch with nature, as Kite put it. I thought it was amazing. There wasn't much there, other than the squirrels and other people. Ohh, the people's faces when they saw this huge mass of grungy college students navigating through the park at ten am."

I nodded along, smiling to myself as he continued to blabber on about his studies. I had yet to meet someone as passionate about Biology as Gon was. 

All the papers were now shoved into my binder and I was moving to put it on the counter.

"- And that's when Ella told me about how she had never been around town, seeing as she was new to town, so I offered to take her out."

My hands twitch at that and— much to my disadvantage— it caused me to drop my binder, paper spilling out as soon as the spine hit the floor.

Seeing the mess I made, I dropped down to my knees and began to pick it up, ignoring Gon's curious, but also concerned stare. I allowed my bangs to cover my eyes as I kept my head hung down as much as possible to cover up my massive blush. 

Shit, shit, fuck.

"Are you okay?" Gon asked, moving over to help me. 

I waited for a second, till I was convinced that my blush had recused, and then looked over at Gon. Waving my hand, I gesture for him toss it down, "I'm okay. It just slipped out of my grip. What were you saying?"

Raising an eyebrow, Gon crouched beside me and picked up some of the papers. "Well, I was saying that I offered to show Ella around town, which won't be for a while since I'm going to Whale Island for Easter break. Oh, Killua, question."

Surprised by the sudden subject change, I refocused my attention on Gon. "Yes?"

"You aren't going anywhere, right?" I nodded. "Great, then come with me to Whale Island. That way you won't be lonely and you'll also finally be able to see my home," he then chuckled a bit, "And so that Mito-san won't think that you're a made-up person. She doesn't believe whenever I talk about you."

I tensed. "You talk to your aunt about me?"

Shaking his head, he handed me the rest of my papers, which I despaired into my binder, and stood up. "Of course. Why wouldn't I talk about the most amazing person in the world?"

About blush— how many times has that been today— raced up my cheeks. I sputtered our attempt to respond, which earned me a laugh before I looked at the floor. "That's embarrassing, you idiot."

"Embarrassing, but true,"

Rolling my eyes, I put my binder on the counter and looked over at the stove's clock.

5 pm

"But, would you consider coming with me?"

I paused and considered my options. Both Gon and Chi would be away, leaving me alone, which was never a problem, but this would be for a week and maybe that was too much introversion. 

"I guess, but are you sure I won't be a hassle on your aunt. I don't want to be any trouble,"

Gon's smile split his face in half. "That so like you Killua. No, it won't be a problem. She usually has a huge party every year for Easter, but the majority of the islands gonna be away, traveling and whatnot, so she told me to try and bring people along so it wasn't too quiet." He turned and pulled out his phone. "Besides, I want you to come."

I nodded, biting my lip. "Okay," I mumbled before, looking over at Gon and smiling. " I'll come along. When do you want to go?'

For a second, Gon didn't say anything, but he jumped up and started to bounce around the room before running towards me and hugging me around the waist. Arms squeezed against my side, I wiggled a bit, before Gon finally moved, but not in the way I would've preferred. Picking me up, he began to spin around the room.

"Gon, stop it," I yelled at him. He continued to spin for a few more seconds before setting me down. The grip loosened, I finally managed to pull my hand out from his clamp-like grip and hit upside the head. "A hug would've been enough, dude."

Completely letting good, he set both of his hands on my shoulders. "Probably, but you wouldn't have gotten how excited I was."

This is too much for me to handle.

"Weirdo," I muttered before crossing my arms. "I'll restate my question, when do you want to leave?"

"Hmmm," Gon went quiet for a few seconds. 

Did he seriously not think about when he wanted to leave?

"Well, I want to leave as soon as possible, so probably as soon as classes are done tomorrow. SO you should probably start packing up," Gon smiled. 

WHY SO EARLY?

"Okay. What should I pack?"

"Stuff for warm weather."

After that, I turned, fully prepared to pack. I got into my room, but not before looking back to see Gon giving me a thumbs up.

What have I gotten myself into?

\--------------------------------------- 

"So now I'm going with him to Whale Island,"

I sat across from Chi in the library—I had had an early class while Gon's was in the afternoon— explaining to her the events of last night. 

Raising an eyebrow, she continued to twirl her pencil between her fingers. "For how long."

"I don't know. When I asked, he said two days was the least. Also mentioned that we may be there until the day before school," I huffed, before looking down at the huge-ass book I needed to write my essay on some long-dead composer. 

Chi hummed, before closing her book and smirking at me. "Well, I think it'll be a great bonding time, maybe even a time of discovery."

Blush raced up my neck. I shook my head and glared at her. "You're so sick. It's his childhood home, how could you even say that? Besides, we're still assuming he's a solid 180 degrees."

She hummed again, before looking up at the clock. We were both quiet for a while before she reached over and took my hand.

"Listen, I don't mean anything by it, I'm just teasing, but there is an underlying truth to that. You need to stop being so afraid of these feelings and you need to admit them to both yourself and Gon."

"Maybe I'm okay with just leaving it be,"

"Or maybe you're just lying to yourself so you won't get hurt."

Silence took over once again and the weight of her words started to come over me. I know I'm lying to myself, but I'm okay with it. I won't get this way. Maybe I won't ever be happy, but I won't ever be heart-broken, right? 

I just don't want to risk being crushed... not again. 

"I'm okay with just being his friend," I whispered, looking down at my hand. 

CHi squeezed my hand before releasing it. "I'll respect your decision, but if I see you get hurt because of this choice, I'm fucking barging in."

I laughed a little at her metaphor before looking up at the clock. "I should get going. Seeing you in a week."

I got up and started to walk away.

"Killua,"

I stopped and looked back to see Chi smiling at me. "One day your gonna have to stop being so selfless."

"And one day you gonna run out of ways to be smarter than me."

\--------------------------------------- 

"Got everything?" Gon called into my room, knocking before entering. 

Hulling a single duffle bag over my shoulder I turned to him. "Yeah. just wondering if I should bring along my laptop."

"You won't be able to use it. The wifi and cell reception sucks literal balls out there," Gon snorted. 

"What?!" I let the shocked expression overtake my face. "You're bringing me to an isolated island with no wifi or service? Are you plotting to kill me? Is this about eating the last of your Kit Kats?"

"I would never, Killua,"

Letting a fake skeptical look fall on my face, I fall into pace with his steps as we exit my room. "The food better be good."

"Only the best for you, Killua." Closing the door behind him and locking it, Gon gestured towards the stairway. "Shall we?"

"So long as you aren't some murder, I'll follow."

"Great," he began to walk towards the stairway, a bag in his left hand. 

What I said is too true, I thought, following behind. I'll follow you where ever, Gon.


	9. Chapter 9

Gon POV

We were currently on the last boat towards whale island and my stomach was twisting into endless knots. I don't know why I was so nervous, it wasn't like I hadn't ever had friends over during the holiday. But, for some reason, everything with Killua was different, a little bit more of the teetering on the edge of a cliff kind of a feel, and I liked it.

Killua was leaning over the edge of the boat, just hanging loose, hair blowback and out of his face, creating a halo, and his face was graced with a smile of total content. 

How is he so cute?

I mentally slap myself, reprimanding for even thinking that and take the spot beside him.   
"You know, if we happened to hit a rough patch, you could fall overboard," I quipped at him, only earning a glance out of the corner of his eye. 

"I highly doubt it, with such calm weather," Killua replied before standing up a stretching. He then looked over at me and smiled slightly. "Besides, if I did fall over, I'm sure you'd come to my rescue."

My heart clenched, but I ignored it and laughed. "So, you've dropped your murder theory."

He only hummed in confirmation before starting to knock some sort of beat on the edge of the boat, humming quietly along as if to carry out the underlying notes that I wouldn't have known were there. My thoughts were instantly drawn to the night that he got defensive when I asked him to sing for me. I tried not the think about it, just brushing it off as him being embarrassed about his singing, whether good or bad. But it seemed like it was more than just embarrassment. 

I considered asking, but then backed off when Killua stopped what he was doing and looked over to the front of the boat. "Is that the famous Whale Island?"

I turned my attention over to the island and smiled, before nodding. "Yep. That's it."

"It looks more like half of a chicken wing," Killua chuckled and I laughed right along with him.

"I suppose. I still side with the idea of it being a cartoon whale. But it wasn't named due to the fact it looks like a whale," I informed him, walking towards the entrance to the haul of the boat.

"Hmm, then old wise man, why is it called Whale Island?" I glared at him for calling me old but he only snickered in response. 

"Well," I opened the door, and he entered in before me. "It's called Whale Island because it used to be a huge Whaling spot. Whales used to migrate here before they realized that this place wasn't safe for them anymore."

Killua nodded, "A simplistic response."

I elbowed him for teasing me and he laughed a little bit more, and I couldn't help but smile at the squeakiness of his laugh.

Too cute.

"So, what side of the island do you live on?" Killua said as we entered our room, grabbing our things. 

"The opposite side. It's cool. Kinda secluded and all, but pretty."

Quiet for a second, he sat down on his bed and leaned back on his hands. "So, am I to assume that, because this place seemed to be unbelievably old that we'll be walking to your house?"

I opened my mouth to respond when I finally looked up to see the expression that Killua was making and it was less than happy. "Yes," I mumbled which earned an exasperated sigh and the sound of bedsprings. Killua was now lying down on his bed, arms spread wide, and staring up at the ceiling.

"My feet are going to hurt so much," He whined whilst rolling over to squish his head into his pillow.

Shaking my head, I walked over and crouched beside Killua's bed and leaned my chin onto the mattress. "A little bit of exercise hurt nobody."

"Yes, it has." He turned his head to look over at me and I could feel his breath fanning my face.

"I'm pretty sure more people have died from exercise than shark attacks." Lips twisting into a pout, he averted his eyes from looking directly at me his cheeks began to turn red.

My stomach was twisting again and my heart was pounding at how impossibly adorable he was being.

"I doubt your scientific fact, Ki-llu-a, but whatever floats your boat." Shifting so that he was now sitting up, he sighed and grumbled something about how he shouldn't have packed so much. "I'll carry some of your stuff. I only brought a backpack, so I can take one of your bags."

He didn't look at me for a second before he wordlessly nodded. While he did this, for a quick second, I saw some sort of look pass through his eye and it caught me off guard.

What is he thinking about?

\--------------------------------------- 

"Come on, it's just over that hill," I whined at Killua who was currently sitting on the ground, down a water bottle.

He pulled the bottle away from his lips and wiped his mouth. "That's what you said last time I stopped and the time before that." He pointedly looked at me, "Obviously you don't remember that I am a music nerd and not some jock."

"It's only a little walk," I started but then Killua stood up and pulled out his phone.

"Little walk! We have walked for a fucking day, we have walked for over 25 miles!"

I grimaced at Killua's yelling before setting a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, sorry, sorry. But it's only a hill away, I can see it on the horizon, look,"

Directing his fury away from me and towards the small house just peeking out over the top of the hill. He watched KIllua's face morph into a calmed expression and a teasing smile spread across his face. 

"Suddenly I feel like I have a lot of energy," He said slowly, catching my attention and meeting my eyes. "Race you!" he shouted out quickly before racing off in a sprint.

I didn't grasp what he meant until he was already too far away for me to grab onto him, so I chased after him. I watched as his white hair whipped back and forth and his laugh rang through the air. The whole day I had been caught off guard by Killua's antics, as he seemed to be a little bit more outspoken and was willing to express what he was feeling. It was nice to see him happy because his smile was one of the best that I had ever seen. I wanted to protect it. 

I finally started to catch up to him, not because he wasn't trying, but because he was slowing down as if realizing something. He stopped completely and waited for me to come up beside him.

Laughing while rubbing the back of his neck, a blushed flared up across his face. "I forgot that I don't know your aunt, so, you should probably go first."

I laughed at him before ruffling his hair, which earned me a small glare. "You're so weird Killua. No need to be embarrassed, she'd've just laughed at you."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," he groaned, before continuing to walk. "But I still, obviously, would've won."

"Only because you tricked me and unleashed some hidden energy storage." He snorted at my wording. "You were complaining the whole way up here, but suddenly you have all the energy in the world."

"I don't do distance runs, just quick sprints," Killua replied starting to tug on strands of his hair. "My parents forced me onto the track team, said that I wasn't allowed to continue playing if I didn't participate."

Taken aback, I opened my mouth to press on but stopped when I saw Mito-san Hanging up sheets. I didn't waste a second and ran towards her, shouting out to catch her attention. She turned around and an ear-splitting smile crossed her face as she laughed and ran towards me. 

We embraced in a hug, both of us laughing and smiling. She pulled away and kissed my cheek. "Sweet boy, I thought you weren't going to show up until tomorrow? As much as it's a wonderful surprise, I'm not ready for people to be over yet."

"Sorry," I said whilst sticking my tongue out. "I just was able to convince Killua to walk across the island. I thought he'd prefer that over camping out in the woods."

"There was another option besides walking forever?!" Killua yelled at me as he finally started to near us. I winced slightly knowing Killua was less than pleased.

Turning towards him, I held my hands up in surrender and tried to smile. "I was just excited and I didn't think you'd want to sleep out in the woods."

He opened his mouth slightly to respond before closing it, looking defeated. "I suppose you're right."

I laughed before grabbing his hand and leading him towards Mito. "Yes, I know you better than you think. Now stop being so awkward and finally prove to my aunt that I'm not insane."

Mito brought her hand to her mouth to cover up her smile. "I don't say that you're insane, Gon, I just thought that you might be making someone up to make sure I wasn't worried about you. Hanging out with people much older then you isn't exactly something I want to hear."

Killua raised an eyebrow before shooting me a quick look and finally stepping forward. "Hi, I'm Killua."

"Mito. I've heard quite a bit about you from Gon," Mito replied and I didn't miss how her face frowned when she noticed his hair.

Shit should've mentioned that.

"But he didn't mention that you had white hair."

Killua's hands instantly shot to touch his hair, as if he had forgotten it was there or was trying to cover it up. His face flared up and he offered an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, it's a genetic thing. My father and his father have white hair as well. 'S kind of annoying."

I wanted to apologize to Killua for Mito's abruptness, but she was very opinionated about certain things and would make assumptions based on appearances.

"Well, that's good. I don't want Gon getting wrapped up in the wrong crowd."

Killua visibly stiffened at what she said and his eyebrows frowned slightly, not enough that someone that didn't know Killua would know that he was upset. That being said, I could see that he was. 

Laughing a little, Killua began to twiddle with the strings of his hoodie. "Well, umm, thanks."

Pained by watching this awkward encounter, I stepped in and smiled. "I can't remember if I mentioned this, but Killua is officially enrolled as a second year in our school because he did all of his first-year courses in High school. He's also been helping me study for my classes."

"Really?" Mito asked, before looking back and smiling at Killua. "Sorry if this is rude but I assumed that you'd be more along the lines of the hipster folk due to being in the music program."

"Yeah, I was at the top of my class and got a full scholarship ship to HU." 

They talked for a little longer, which consisted of Mito asking Killua questions and Killua answering. I felt bad that I didn't mention to Killua how Mito was a little overprotective.

"Well, we should probably get inside before it gets too dark. You boys must be starving."

"I feel like I could eat a horse," I laughed before walking towards the house with Killua right by my side. I took a quick look back and it looked like he wanted to ask a question, which made me feel even more concerned for him.

Once inside, we took our shoes off and followed Mito around the house as she pointed out areas of the home to Killua. 

"And when you go upstairs, there's my room on the first door, a bathroom on the opposite side of it, then Gon's room beside the bathroom. You'll be staying in the last room down the hallway."

"Oh, thank you for accommodating me. I'll just go get settled in the room," Killua said before he took his bags and headed towards his room. 

I went follow him but Mito grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards the kitchen.

She pointed towards a chair at the table and I sat down across from her. 

"Okay, what else haven't you told me about him?" She asked, her tone a little angered.

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she quickly looked over at the hallway, as if you make sure Killua wasn't coming. "Why didn't you tell me that he had white hair and was pale as a ghost? Why didn't you tell me that he was a second-year university student? What else haven't you told me about him?"

Taken aback, I paused for a second before looking down at my hands. "A lot of things. But I don't tell you them because you don't need to know those things." 

"What?"

I sighed, "Mito-san, I didn't tell you about his hair or the fact that he's a year ahead of me in studies because those things aren't his defining qualities. He's a good person and someone I enjoy being around, and that all that matters."

Twiddling her fingers, she reached across the table and took my hand. "You know I only want what's best for you, right?"

I nodded and squeezed her hand. "I know, but Killua's been a really good part of my life. He's made going to school bearable and he's been fun to be around. I just don't want you to get caught up in his appearance or achievements."

She nodded and stood up. "You should go check on him. Lord knows he's probably really confused. Tell him, I apologize."

I nodded and headed up the stairs towards Killua's room and knocked on the door before entering to see Killua sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, looking at an old ukulele The was set on its stand. 

"Interesting, eh?"

He only nodded in response before he reached out and plucked a string only to wince at the untuned sound is produced. 

He turned around and faced me and opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again.

Rolling my eyes at his hesitation, I sat down in front of him and shocked my head. "I'm sorry for my aunt. She's just overly protective and I completely forgot how she was around new people."

Looking shocked, he shook his head. "No, that's not it. I completely understand where she's coming from. My father said that he was often mistaken for being a gang member because of his hair and all."

"Well," I said before reaching and tucking a strand of Killua's hair behind his ear. "I think that it's pretty. Kinda like snow or polar bear fur. Fuzzy."

He reached towards my hand but stopped before touching it and covered his face. Mumbling something about me being embarrassing, which just earned a laugh from me.

Killua looked up at me and shook his head. "You're so weird Gon," he sighed.

"You're even weirder," I teased back and Killua laughed before standing up and walking towards his suitcase and pulling out a box of chocolate he smuggled along.

"Chocolate?" He asked, pointing the box in my direction. "How long do you think we're gonna stay?"

Pausing for a second, I hummed at his question. If I was honest, I had no idea how long we'd be here. We only had a week for Easter break, which would probably consist of Killua doing his work and scolding for not doing my work. But, within the week, I wanted to show Killua around to the best spots on the island and introduce him to some of the people on the island, id they weren't all away on vacation.

"Probably two or three more days. We gotta stay for Easter dinner and then I want to show you some stuff around the island,"

Slowly nodding, Killua threw a few more chocolate balls into his mouth and put the box away before walking towards the door. "We should probably go ask your aunt if she needs any help with anything."

I followed him out and into the kitchen where Mito was peeling vegetables.

Killua rounded the corner and hung off the wall, "Do you need me to help with anything, Mito?" he asked before fully stepping into the kitchen, playing with the hem of his sweater.

"Oh, I don't expect you to help with anything, dear," Mito replied, putting down her peeler.

"I insist. You're generous for letting me stay and I want to repay your kindness,"

Mito blinked before looking around the kitchen. " Well, since you insist, do you mind peeling these vegetables. I need to prep the turkey for tomorrow."

"Sure, just the potatoes and carrots?"

Mito nodded and Killua took her place and taking up her work. As he began to peel I shook my head, knowing that Killua hadn't spent a lot of time cooking lately, as we had just had some major exams before the break.

"Gon, why are you standing there?" Mito yelled at me, snapping me out of my daze. Killua snickered at this but didn't lookup. "Start cutting up the potatoes and putting them in the pot."

"Yes, ma'am," I saluted before making my place between Killua and the stove.

We worked for a bit in silence, Mito messing around the kitchen on the opposite side. The only sound was of the peeler against vegetables, knives on cutting boards, and pots crashing together ever so often.

It wasn't until a few minutes into the work that Killua was tapping his foot in a solid beat and peeling the potatoes of a rhythm that would change ever so often. This was a habit he had, probably one he did subconsciously, but he would do it whenever he did chores.

This boy.

I thought that would be it, but then he started to mumble something under his breath, and I stopped my cutting to listen in.

"You must come back,

Oh, You must come back,

You must come back home."

My ears were blushed by the mumbled singing that was coming out of this boy's mouth. Completely on the beat with the rest of his tapping, it's as if he was doing it on purpose but wasn't.

I leaned over so that my chin rested lightly on his shoulder, knowing that what I was about to do would probably stop him from signing, but, god, impulse decision. He jumped slightly when I started to speak in his ear, "Did you know you always make music no matter what you do?"

I rotated my head so that I could see his face, which was bright red, his tapping and singing becoming completely silent.

I looked down at his hands to see that they were shaking slightly, my face frowned at this. I opened my mouth to say something before I was cut off by Killua coughing slightly. "Stop concerning yourself so much with what I'm doing. At this rate, I'll be finished before you," He looked over at me, our faces now a few inches apart, and smirked. "If that happens, I'll get bored and explore the island on my own."

My eyes widened at Killua's sudden directness and I slowed visibly before returning the smirking. "Wanna make it a race now?"

"It'd be a race you'd lose," he answered before going back to peeling, laser-focused on his task.

I laughed before returning to cutting the vegetables that Killua would hand me.

But why was he trembling?

\---------------------------------------   
I turned to Mito, holding the door open as Killua exited in front of me. "I'm gonna show Killua around."

"Okay, just be back before the sunrises. I don't want to deal with two sleep-deprived adolescents,' she warned before I laughed in response, closing the door behind me.

Killua was already a few steps ahead of me so I jogged to catch up, finally falling into step with him. He had been quiet ever since he challenged me to the race. I regretted teasing him for singing, especially since he was being so silent.

"So, I plan on showing you my favorite spot on the island. It's not to far out and it's got the best view especially at night," I said to fill in the silence before I got a slight nod in response. Not what I was looking for.   
I lead him the rest of the way, through the bush before taking his hand into mine. I felt him tense up in surprise but eventually relax and allowing me to lead him to where we needed to go. And we finally emerged from the bush to a cliff over the ocean.

"See, not that—"

"Wow," Killua interrupted, staring up at the sky, and for the first time for what seemed like hours, his face lit up.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked over at Killua. The moonlight made his skin glow and his hair became the most perfect white you could imagine. And the way that his eyes glistened and reflected the world, making it look like he held galaxies within his eyes, I felt my chest seize up at the sight.

When my breath finally escaped, I bit my tongue and looked away before I could say anything I'd regret later. "We can sit down." I motioned towards the ground and KIllua sat down towards the edge of the cliff eyes still looking up at the stars.

"It's so clear," he whispered, "So much better than in the cities."

"Yeah, it's the thing I miss the most, besides Mito-san."

Killua looked down and smiled at what I said and hummed slightly.

We were quiet once again and I wanted to break the silence, but I probably picked the worst way to do it.

"Why don't you sing?" Flinching, Killua balled his fists and stared intently at them. "Sorry, it's just," I paused and moved so that I was facing Killua head-on. "Killua can you look at me."

I saw his back raise dramatically, showing that he had taken and deep breath and looked over at me, his eyes darker than normal.

"Killua, it's not because it's embarrassing right? It seems like so much more than that," I reached out and took his hand. "You're my best friend and I'd like to think I'm yours—"

"You are," he responded, and I smiled at his abruptness.

"Then you can tell me anything." Scooting closer, I began to run my hands up and down his arms.

I watched as he looked away for a second as if assessing whether to tell me, maybe what to tell me, before in inhaled deeply and looked my back in the eyes, a determined expression claiming his face.

"If I tell you, you can't go on some rampage to reclaim my honor or whatever excuse you'll make. Okay."

I nodded frantically and leaned forward. He sighed one more time before starting to fiddle with the string of his hoodie. "As you know, my parents weren't too happy with the fact that I got accepted into HU for the music program, rather than something more along the lines of the business route," I nodded and waited for him to continue. "Well, I've always listened to music and I always wanted to do something with it, but my parents weren't completely against it and used to do anything and everything to limit my exposure to it. They couldn't do much when they shipped me off to boarding school."

He stopped for a second, laughing a little bit as he reminisced that past. "But, when I was young, I used to jump around and sing all the time. I used to do performances for my little sister and kid stuff like that, but when I would sing in front of my parents."

He stopped and I noticed that he was biting his lip and pulling at his hoodie a little bit more. I waited, giving him his time, and he inhaled sharply, voice coming out in a whisper, "They'd hit me, scold me for doing such a 'useless' thing. It didn't matter when I would sing, even when I was listening to music and just dancing along, they'd hit me, usually on the back so I wouldn't be able to make a sound."

I didn't move just watched as Killua rolled up into a ball, pulling his legs close to him and starting to rock. "Funny enough, I never really stopped, I just learned to not do it in front of others. That's why I don't sing Gon."

I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around his curled up frame, as if to protect him from the world, and started to run my hand through his hair. I kept opening my mouth, trying to think of something to say before leaning my head into his neck and pulling him as close as I could. "I.. I can't imagine... god,"

"Finally speechless?" Killua croaked before moving so that his head was on my shoulder. I hummed in response.

"Yes," I breathed in, getting a whiff of chocolate and peppermint. My heart clenched at the idea of somebody hurting him. It physically hurt to think about someone every laying a hand on him with a violent purpose.

"I promise on the whole world and everything that I stand for that I'll never hurt you Killua. Even if I had to choose between the survival of the whole world and you, I would choose you," I pulled away, but keeping my hands on his waist, rubbing my thumb up and down his hips in hopes that it would comfort him. "Because you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time.

Killua's eyes widened and he exhaled sharply as if someone had just pushed all the air out of him. He continued to stare at me in utter disbelief before putting his hands on his face and falling forward into my shoulder. "Damnit Gon. I'm gonna explode from all of your embarrassing comments."

"Embarrassing but true comments," I corrected while Killua just shook his head, white fluffs tickling my neck. As he pulled away he had a determined look on his face and I raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I know this sounds weird, but, um, would like me to sing for you?"

I bounced slightly before nodding and settled myself for a performance.

"Wait?!" Killua yelled, eyes widening. "I didn't mean right now."

"Oh, sorry, I just thought that you meant right now," I paused for a second, before smiling awkwardly. "But if you don't want to—"

"I'll sing," interrupted, laughing at my awkwardness, "but only cause it's you."

I felt my cheeks flush as he said that, and especially from the way that Killua's face glowed.

"What should I sing?"

I stopped before trying to think of something simple for him to sing. "Something preppy fast-paced... maybe,"

"Hmmm, you might know this one, kinda old though,"

He cleared his throat and sat up a little taller before closing his eyes and opening his mouth.

"Now baby, listen baby, don't you treat me this way, Cause I'll be back on my feet one day,"

The sound that resonated from his mouth caught me off guard, I had expected him to be good, but, this was a whole other level of good. Godly was a better way to describe it. I had recognized the tune instantly and started to snap along which encouraged him to keep going.

"Don't care, if you do 'cause it's understood," he pointed at me and motioned for me to join in, so I decided to wait until he got to the male part not wanting to interrupt his singing. "You ain't got no money you just ain't no good."

"Well, I guess if you say so, I'll have to pack my things and go," I attempted to sing, wincing at myself because I didn't have the best voice ever, but Killua just lit up and start to snap, bopping his head along with the beat, laughing a little bit.

"That's right, hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more."

He stopped singing and looked over at me and I just started to clap, his face turning a light pink tone at my applause.

"You are so amazing Killua!" I yelled before I stopped clapping and watched as Killua just laughed at me.

"You didn't need to clap so much," He informed before shyly smiling, "But thanks."

"Anything for you, Killua."

And I mean anything.

AN:

Songs

> Come Back Home By BTS

> Hit the Road Jack By Ray Charles


	10. Chapter 10

Killua POV

A bright light intruded my room as the sun began to rise. I groaned out, silently cursing myself for being too lazy to close the blinds last night.

Last night, it was a blur after I had sung for Gon— thinking about it brought a harsh blush to my face. I couldn't believe I had done it, and so willingly, but it just proved how whipped I was of Gon. And it seemed to be getting worse, I couldn't refuse Gon anything and would probably end up doing something stupid with little to no complaints. I'm too damn connected to the boy that was my new sun. The boy with a smile that could stop the universe.

I'm so damn whipped.

I rolled over, my eyes landing on the old ukulele feeling to urge to pick it up and play the strings. That's how it always felt when I was around instruments. I had the pull towards them and I took me all my energy to not just pick them up and play them until my fingers would bleed— I'm not even sure I would stop them.

Downstairs I could hear the sound of a person, or persons, working in the kitchen. The sound of pots clanging together and the small buzz of conversation made me groan slightly knowing that I'd either have to get up sometime soon or face the wrath of one of Gon's many, shall we say, inventive ways of waking me up. So, gathering the little energy I had, I got up and kneeled by my suitcase, pulling out a plain black tee, ripped blue acid-washed jeans, and my toiletries, before I walked into the bathroom and got myself ready.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes later that I had made my way into the kitchen, grumbling out a good morning while leaning my forehead against the wall. Hearing a small laugh, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I rotated my head to see Gon smiling at me, holding what smelled to be a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning' sleepyhead, " he chuckled while I took the coffee, sighing as I felt the hot liquid slide down my throat.

"Thanks," I whispered before looking over at Mito to see her shaking her head at us.

"I told you that you two would be tired, you should've come home earlier," she mumbled before pointing at Gon. "I'm going to give you boys three hours to do whatever, then I need you back here to help me prep for tonight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't believe you,"

"No, I'm serious," Gon whined, waving his arms around as if it would convince me he was right. "They call it the King of the Lake and I caught it when I was twelve. The thing was almost as big as a house and I pulled it out of the lake all on my own."

I rolled my eyes, before turning my attention away to look into one of the shop windows. "Yeah, I can believe that you caught the thing, but I don't believe that it was that massive. The size of twenty men? A house? Aren't you exaggerating a little bit?"

He puffed out his cheeks, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of the water before he whined— obviously at a loss for words. "I mean, it probably is... I was twelve and I don't remember it that well," he muttered under his breath. "But, it was massive! It had to be at least as big as a full-grown man!"  
Turning back to face him, I smirked before patting his shoulder, continuing to walk down the street. "Show me a picture and then I'll believe you."

At this time, it was a little past noon. Mito wanted us to be home in about an hour or so, which gave us a little more time to wander our way up to the house. I continued to stare into the shops, most of which were closed, due to today being a major holiday and, seeing as half the island was filled with privately owned shops, not many of them were open for business.

"So," I drawled, trying to think of ways to bring up a conversation as we walked to the slightly deserted streets. "What was it like growing up here? And not some sugar-coated version of it. What was it, honestly, like?"

Gon seemed to get a sudden case of whiplash because he stopped and just stared at me. "You're interested?"

I gasped at his comment, dramatically putting a hand to my chest. "You say that as if I was never interested in your life whatsoever! I am hurt."

Waving his hands while laughing at my little charade, he started to walk again, flashing a quick smile at a few people walking by before shoving his hands into his short pockets. "No, I know you're interested," he quickly remarked before jabbing an elbow at my side, "Just a little too shy to ask. But that's not it."

"Then why are you so surprised?"

"Because everyone assumed it was good. Nothing bad about it," he paused before shrugging. "And it wasn't bad. I'm sure others have had it much worse... but it seems weird to just assume, ya know?"

"I don't think anything's perfect if I'm honest, especially life," I hummed, looking at Gon before softly smiling. "I mean, from what you've told me, your life hasn't been all sunshine and butterflies, so I just thought I'd ask."

Gon took one of his hands out of his pockets, rubbing the back of his neck before looking at a group of adults down the way, all talking loudly. From looking at him, I could see he was thinking. His expression was neutral and he was staring with a slight vigor in his eyes. I watched him for a while before I worked up the courage and grabbed his hand.

I promptly looked at one of the shop windows, feeling Gon looking at me. "I just thought I'd ask, but know that you can talk to me whenever you want," I looked over at him, squeezing his hand before letting it go. "I got two ears and a brain full of weird thoughts, so I'm a very good candidate for listening."

Walking past a few more shops, we passed the group of adults, who didn't even give us a second glance, and once we were past, Gon grabbed my hand and held it tight.

"Thanks."

I nodded before pointing towards one of the few shops that were open and dragging Gon with me. "No problem. Now let's go into a shop."

Laughing, Gon let himself be dragged as we walked into the old shop. I was one of those vintage buildings, seemed to be older than all of the other buildings on the street. Inside was countless little trinkets of every variety. It even had the smell of the old vintage place, mixed in with the sea and some old person smell.

As soon as you entered as an old typewriter and I walked over to it and grazed my finger over the keys, cringing slightly at the dust my finger picked up. One it's right was a jar of marbles of all shapes and sizes and I laughed while looking at it, before gesturing to it.

"This reminds of all those random things I used to pick up and be like, 'I'm gonna start collecting these.'"

Gon's eyes widened, "You did that too!"

"Yeah. Never actually ever committed to the collections though." I picked up the— surprisingly heavy— jar, looking at it from all angles.

"Now you see," Gon laughed, starting to do his own set of investigating, "I did collect things. I think I still have my penny collection somewhere in my room."

I put down the jar, walking over to Gon, looking over his shoulder to see him going through a jar of stamps. "Pennies? How come I'm not surprised?" Beginning to play with a rack that had all sorts of boas. "Find any that was interesting?"

"Nope," he responded, popping the 'p'.

Instantly, I started laughing, covering my mouth in the process, watching Gon walk over with the goofiest smile possible on his face. "S-so," I said whilst trying to repress my laugh, "You just, basically, found pennies, and put them in a box."

"Well, no, I found pennies and put them into my 'collection.'" He did the action for quotations before taking a boa off of the shelf and putting it around my neck, wrapping it until it covered my mouth. "Don't ruin my childhood fun just because you're right," he teased.

I laughed a little more, wrinkling my nose when the boa just tickled to the wrong way. "Okay, I'll try not to be too technical."

"Good." He ruffled my hair and walked away. I quickly took off the boa and hung it back up before starting to look around some more.

Old dolls creepily staring at you, fur coats, old lamps, and side tables. Honestly, this place had everything you'd expect a vintage shop in the middle of an island to have. Even the positively massive hats.

"Holy shit, Gon, look at these," I called out before, grabbing the largest one possible and looking at it. A bright yellow sun hat with a bunch of cheap plastic rainbow feathers sticking out of it. I chuckled before putting it on and looking in the mirror, dying at how utterly ridiculous it was. An idea popping in my head, I grabbed a boa from a nearby rack and pulled it around, letting out an ugly snort.

"Yeah, Killua,"

I quickly turned around, striking an extremely extra pose, showcasing my new 'stylish accessories. "What'cha think?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the shocked expression on Gon's face.

He was quiet before he let out a snort and started to all-out laugh— me joining in right away— before he slowly walking forward to play with the rim of the hat. "What the heck Killua," he laughed hunching over so our faces were level. "You look so silly."

"But it's such a look, right?" I covered my mouth, staring up at him while rapidly raising my eyebrows.

"It's a look," he responded before grabbing the end of the boa.

Just then I realized how close together we were. Our faces were inches apart and I couldn't take my eyes off of Gon's smile. There were no words for how bright and happy he looked and I felt my heart seize up a bit— like it was trying to spring out of my chest.

Ah fuck.

I honestly thought it couldn't get worse, but that was before Gon and I locked eyes, and our chuckling feels quiet. Feeling his breath bounce off of my face and all my senses just being filled up with him. All I could see was his big brown eyes and his amazing tanned skin. All I could smell was the sea and the soft scent of pine. It felt... actually, I couldn't describe it, but my breath was shortening.

I looked at Gon's face, unsure of what I saw, but turned away and grabbed the nearest hat and set it on his head, the tips of my ears and my cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

"H-here," I stuttered softly while adjusting it onto his head, "Now you can look equally ridiculous."

Gon blinked quickly for a bit before looking in the mirror, so he could see the hat I put on him and stared at the zebra print top hat I had grabbed. He took the rim and tipped it towards me. "Well, the gentleman has a great taste I must say. This is quite the look," he responded in a posh tone before I laughed.

"A look it is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mito sighed. "Half an hour., late Gon, how long did I say you had?"

"Three hours," he mumbled, twiddling his fingers.

I stepped forward, stepping a little in front of Gon before slightly bowing. "Sorry Mito. It was my fault. I held Gon up, so if there's anyone you should reprimand, it's me."

She was quiet for a bit before shaking her head. "No, it's okay, I just got worried for a bit." Then she clapped, making the two of us jump. "Now, since you're late, you have to work twice as hard. Get going and start cleaning everywhere. After, clean yourselves up. I don't want people to complain about messy college kids."

"Yes ma'am," we shouted before saluting, quickly running off before Mito could shout at us for being smart-asses.

We stood in the living room, Gon staring aimlessly at me. I looked over and raised an eyebrow. "Hey," I said, gaining his attention. "What'cha want me to do?"

He scanned the room before walking to the hallway, where a closet was, opening it and starting to shuffle through it. I followed and when he turned around, took the duster he gave me. "You can just go around and dust and straighten out pillows and things like that."

I nodded and proceeded to do as instructed. I put pillows in their places, refold the blankets, and dusted everywhere that I could think of dust.

I finally got to the bookshelf, which held more pictures then books on it. Looking at the pictures, I looked at a little Gon fishing with Mito, running around in the backyard, smiling with the same vigor that he does now. I couldn't help but coo at one photo of Gon and dog.

I looked around a saw Mito rounding the corner and smiled before pointing at the photo. "Is that Kon?"

She looked over at the photo and softly smiled. "Yes, that was when Gon was four. Kon was about three at the time and patrolled around Gon all the time. It was so adorable."

"Yeah, Gon told me about the times he used to go out swimming with Kon," I smiled, studying the picture a little more before continuing my dusting.

"I'm surprised Gon told you about Kon," Mito said, staring at the photos a little bit longer. She redirected her attention my way and smiled softly. "He was broken up when Kon died. He was sixteen when Kon died. He outright refused to ever mention him until a few years ago."

I hummed before looking at a few other photos of Gon and Kon before looking at Mito. "I imagined it was probably like having his best friend die."

"That's what I assume. I was personally more of a cat person if I'm honest, but Kon was able to steal my heart, so for someone like Gon, who loves everything about nature, he was so attached to that dog." She sighed before walking towards the kitchen. "Anyways, I think Gon's finished the vacuuming, so once you're done with the dusting, you can go be free for a while, but make sure to clean up by five."

"Thank you, Mito," I smiled before going back to what I was doing.

A while passed, and I finally finished, putting the duster away, then heading upstairs, quickly looking at the clock to see that it was.

Three o'clock.

Keeping the time in mind, I went up to my room and went through one of my bags, pulling out some sheet music— and situating myself on the floor— that I was supposed to go over, per request of Bisky.

It had been one of the special assignments that she had given me, promising me extra credit if I took off some of her workloads. When she had told me this, I proceeded to her that there were only four students in the class, but was instantly reminded of who controlled my grades. I know she doesn't mean it, but I only do this because I can get extra credit for what I'm doing, so, who gives a shit.

Anyways, I was currently looking over Ian's composition. His, much like how he played, was somewhat robotic and it drove me up the wall. He had set dynamics at almost every bar as if to remind the player that they shouldn't do anything creative whatsoever with this piece. A bunch of bullshit.

I groaned pulling at my hair hoping to relieve some stress when the door opened up. I looked up to see Gon standing in the doorway before he shut the door and sat on the bed behind me. I leaned my head back, looking up at Gon, who was looking down at me. I sighed, letting my head tilt so it was leaning up against his knee, before humming.

"What are you doing?" he asked while beginning to stroke my hair, something that he had been starting to due regular whenever we were just lounging around. It was nice, but was I gonna admit it? Of course not.

"Schoolwork, which you should be doing as well. Don't you have a project that's due soon? Since you're here, you could start collecting some of the samples that you need for it."

He groaned, falling back onto the bed and thrashing a bit, like a child throwing a tantrum. "But I can do it later. Right now I wanna spend time with you, Killua, but you're doing homework and being boring."

"Yes, but if you do your work now," I started, turning around to face him, looking him in the eye and making sure that my words were getting through to him. "Then we can go out and spend as much time as we want to do stuff. And you also won't be worked up about not having it done."

He opened his mouth to respond before mumbling something and rolling over so he was on his stomach and looking at my papers. "Are you doing another one of those extra credit things that Bisky makes you do?"

"Yes. Are you actively ignoring what I told you?"

He didn't say anything, just looked out the window.

"You're such a child," a muttered, going back to my work before feeling my hair being played with again.

"It's almost five," Gon said, leaning forward and setting his chin on my shoulder.

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my highlighter and underlined something, writing in a quick note. "By that, you mean half an hour till five, which gives me half an hour to get ready. I take ten minutes."

He nodded, picking up one of the sheets and staring at it. "Constant instruction, less creativity? What's that mean?"

"He tells the player how to read it a lot, setting sound levels and expression in a lot of bars, but doesn't give the player the freedom to make it a performance."

"Ohh,"

Then we were silent for a while before I looked up from my pages and cracked my neck, rolling over to my bag to see what I had for clothes. I started to pick through it and looked up at Gon, who was staring at some of the other sheets of music.

"What should I wear?"

He glanced at my bag and then returned to looking at the papers. "Something nice, probably don't wear sweatpants—"

"I'm not gonna do that,"

"Did you bring any of your sweaters?" He asked, watching as I rummaged around in my bag for a little longer. "I did tell you it'd be hot."

"Yeah, you told me it'd be hot, but I brought two sweaters. There's no way I'm gonna go anywhere without my sweaters." I responded, giving an expression that just screamed obviously.

"That big black one. Did you bring it?"

I stopped a second before I pulled it out and showed it to Gon. "This one?"

"Yeah, wear that,"

I scrunched up my eyebrows and looked at it for a second before throwing it on the bed and gathering my papers, putting them away in my bag. After I cleaned up my pencils, I leaned on the bed to grab my sweater, only to get tackled by Gon. Landing on the bed, I tried to push him off, laughing as he wrapped me up into a bear hug.

"Let go, I need to get ready."

"No you don't," he laughed, falling backward onto the bed and taking me with him.

"But you just told me to a while ago to get ready. What do you want me to do?" I laughed, as we continued to play fight, me eventually ending up straddling him, trying my best to keep his arms pinned down.

Pulling out of my grip, he flipped us over, him in between my legs and pinning my arms above my head. He leaned down so that his mouth was beside my ear. "I just want you to pay attention to me,"

I sucked in a breath, and the reality of our position set in, and I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up. Clenching my fists, I tried to even my breath out, not sure what to say before I allowed my mouth to run itself.

Smirking, I relaxed a little bit before tilting my head towards his ear. "If you wanted attention, you just need to ask nicely."

The hands-on my wrist loosened slightly before Gon rested his hands on either side of my head. "And what would that entail?"

I shrugged, staring him directly in the eye. "You're gonna have to figure out that for yourself."

At that moment, Gon must've heard something, because he looked at the door and slowly crawled away, continuing to watch me as I sat up. Staring back, I sat beside him and grabbed my sweater and walked towards the door.

"I'm gonna go clean up quickly," I said before smirking. "Don't get yourself to work up while I'm gone."

I left the room and walked over to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it. I leaned against the door and slide down so I was sitting on the floor. I let my head fall forward as I began to regain my breath.

I was trying to understand what happened. I mean, he was flirting with me. Even an amateur like me would be able to notice that. And if he was doing that, does that mean that just maybe... just maybe...

Is he as whipped as I am?

"Fuck, you're so confusing," I muttered, standing up and quickly changing my shirt, washing my face, and brushing my teeth.

I continuously fiddled with my shirt, trying to relieve some of the stress that I was feeling. I was so confused and wound up. And I don't know why I was being like this. Maybe it was because it felt so intense when we were... like that, but... ugh, I don't know what to think. I know how I feel, and now I feel like he might have the same feelings, but I can never know with Gon. he's too erratic.

Sighing, I leaned my head against the mirror, taking in a deep breath then finally leaving the bathroom. As soon as I left I could hear the voices on the other floor, which I assumed was to people showing up already.

Shirt in hand, I went into my room to put it away, only to see Gon sitting on my bed staring at me. I raised an eyebrow in question before putting my t-shirt away and facing a now standing Gon.

He stepped forward and pulled a little bit on my sweater, acting like he was adjusting it. "What are you doing?" I asked, chuckling at his actions.

He shrugged, before ruffling my hair, hand sliding down to rest on my cheek.

Okay, seriously. Something's going on.

"I'm just admiring you. You look good in big sweaters,"

"You sayin' I look ugly in everything else?" I asked with a teasing tone.

He instantly looked like he regretted it. Sucking in a breath he started to apologize, hands flapping around a bit. "No, I mean... I didn't mean that,"

"Yeah," I cut him off while laughing. "That's what you get for trying to be sly."

He whined a bit before I started to walk towards the door. "Come on, you got a whole shit ton of people downstairs waiting for you."

He caught up, walking slightly behind me. "I might need to take your offer on talking to you because these people are gonna completely drive me up to the wall. I might implode if I don't tell you."

"Sure thing," I looked at him smiling and making my way down the stairs. "Now onwards to where the proper, boring, adults lie."


	11. Chapter 11

, aWhen people describe me, they typically go with phrases like happy-go-lucky, likable, energetic, and couldn't hate anyone if I tried. They mostly use wholesome phrases that made me seem like some pure, innocent, kid. I had never met anyone who didn't think of me as anything off of bright and happy.

But that was before Killua.

It was nice to have someone that told me to shut up with my bullshit facade and tell him what I meant. He understood what it was like to be stereotyped, and it was nice.

So, as we descended the stairs and gave his quick little quip about adults and just how freakin' horrible they were, I couldn't help but look at him and see something I couldn't describe.

A world above my own was how I saw Killua. An entity that couldn't be described by words. He was something amazing, but blatantly out there. He was a marble statue, polished by the grit of the world around him and the curse of the ideals of the world.

Once we were downstairs, at least three people were sitting in the living room, all of them laughing their fake laughs and enjoy the talking that had been so polished it was like a routine.

'How are you doing?'

'Great. How's your daughter?'

'Oh, you know, traveling, studying, all the things a good child should.'

"That's nice to hear. My son..."

It just went on and on and on and I was so done with it already, I almost screamed, only to have Killua pull me into the kitchen where a few more people and Mito were chatting as they prepared for the dinner.

"Hey, Mito, sorry for being a little late. We lost track of time doing work. What do you need us to do?" Killua said, a fake smile plastered on his face in such a convincing way, it seemed I only noticed it. Nevertheless, I ignored the smile for now and put my fake expression on, mentally thanking Killua for pulling me back into a less horrible area.

"Oh, you sweet boys, we're good for now," Mito replied, her voice dripping with honey that it made Gon cringe a bit. "How about you introduce your friend to everyone?"

"Sure thing," I responded, making sure to stay as positive as possible. I gestured towards Killua, who gave a slight wave. "This is my friend from university, Killua. Killua, this is Miss Tomkins, she's the shoe store owner," I said, gesturing to said Miss Tomkins, who was wearing an older styled dressed and had her hair styled up like it was the 1800's. "Then there's Mr. Kennedy," I pointed at a man in an easter styled jumper— which shouldn't be allowed. "And then Dr. Ulandred," I finished, pointing towards middle-aged women sporting a pair of dress pants and a pink sweater, hair done up into a painful-looking high ponytail.

Killua nodded, before stepping forward and shaking everyone's hand with an air of professionalism, you just had to instantly respect the guy. "Hello, It's great to meet you all. Happy Easter," he quickly said before standing right beside me again, keeping his posture tall and arms clasped behind his back, now seeming to be slightly innocent like he had never said a curse word ever in his life — bitch, the lies!

"Well, aren't you just a sweetheart," Miss Tomkins cooed, turning away from cutting the vegetables. "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, we share a dorm, making us roommates," I said, throwing my arm over Killua's shoulder, making us look even more bro-ie — because that's what the adults want. "We just kinda hit it off and now we're super close. Like, it's crazy how close we are."

Killua rolled his eyes before elbowing me in the side, let out a good-natured chuckle. "Only happened because you're so friendly. A marvelous fellow you are, my friend."

"Oh dear Killua," I let out a politician impression like laugh out. "You simply are too much." We both let out a posh laugh before returning our attention to the adults in the room, who were not so subtle judging us.

Coughing a little, Mito pointed towards the living room and smiled. "How about you stop bugging us boys and talk to the others. I think Noko is over in the other room."

"Ok, Mito," I sing-songed before walking towards the living room with Killua by my side.

"Geez, tough crowd. I thought we were being funny." Killua mumbled, looking a the kitchen with a slight hint of bane in his gaze.

"We were freakin hilarious. These people are just super conservative and just hate the idea of our generation. It sucks balls," I groaned quietly, only to hear a quick snort come out of Killua as we entered the other room.

"Sounds like their pleasant people. Getting you to cuss so bluntly. A true skill," he whispered to me before returning to the same posture and facial expression as he had in the last room.

"Hey guys," I welcomed, smiling as I walked to shake hands with the three people in the room." I wanted to introduce the special I invited from York New city. This is Killua."

The first person to get up was Frankie, still dressed in his fisherman attire — I swear he never changes out of it. "Well ain't it nice to see a new face around here, 'right Noko?"

Noko, who just so happened to be Frankie's daughter, walked forward and smiled, twirling a bit of her orange hair. "Yes. It's nice to see you too, Gon. It's been a while."

"Probably has to do with being across the sea, but 'cha knows," I joked, shaking Frankie's hand before turning to look at the lady on the couch. Lady Kreed.

If I had to describe her, it'd be s a demon, mainly because she was just outright horrible and worked to ensure that everyone's life was just as miserable as she was.

She also just so happened to be the woman in charge of the whole island.

"Ahh, and Lady Kreed. How's life treating you?" I asked in a poisonous sweet voice, trying to prevent my face from scrunching up in distaste.

"Very well young man. How's been the big city life?" She asked, standing up and walking towards us, her slightly wrinkled face struggling to prevent itself from collapsing in on her.

"Pretty well. Of course, it doesn't compare to the open air of Whale Island, but it's nice to experience something different," I supplied before gesturing towards Killua, totally ready to throw him under the bus with this one. As much as I'd love for us to both make it out alive, it ain't gonna happen and it's every man for himself. "This is Killua, and KIllua, this is Lady Kreed."

Something seemed to go off in Killua's head, probably remembering the thousands of times I had mentioned how horrible this woman was, and he smiled. "Ah yes. Gon's mentioned you a few times. I heard to run the island."

"Yes," she hummed, giving KIllua a quick up and down. "It is one of the many activities I take part in on this island. So," she sat back down on the couch and motioned toward the chairs. "Shall we ll sit. I have quite a few questions to ask you and Gon since It's my first time meeting you and the first time I've seen Gon in months."

We all quickly sat down, Killua and I taking up the loveseat against one of the walls, and leaving Frankie and Noko to sit beside Lady Kreed.

"So, Killua. I know this'll sound a little abrupt, but is your hair dyed?" Noko asked, a smile crossing her face that nodded towards her not so friendly intents.

Playing with his hair, Killua let out a sigh. "No, it's not. It's a trait I received from my father and his father. It's something that just kind happens. No dye, all-natural," he explained, trying to keep from sounding so done with that question. And I would be the same if I got asked it every time I met someone.

Everyone nodded before Frankie spoke up. "So, Gon, what's it like going to one of the most prestigious unis ever?"

"Ummm, normal, I suppose. I mean. The work is challenging and I'm only in my first year of it, but I'm excited to see where it takes me." I replied, giving him a wide smile.

Frankie nodded before leaning back against the couch, saying something quietly like 'that's our island boy,' but I really couldn't hear what he said, so I didn't pay it much attention.

"Seems like you've been struggling." Lady Kreed looked at me with judgment, causing me to shiver slightly. "The option to take online courses on the island is still available. I'm sure they'd be much easier than whatever you're doing there."

"It's like I want it to be easier, I enjoy the challenge," I replied quickly, wanting to ensure that I had my opinion put in, not wanting to relieve the fight that it took to get out of here.

"Yes, but I don't want you to put your future in jeopardy because of your grades."

"I don't think that's a problem," Killua interjected, glaring at Kreed, changing his seated position to look more intimidating.

Raising an almost non-existent eyebrow, Lady Kreed hummed. "Why is that, Killua?" He asked in a demeaning tone.

"Because Gon's been excelling in all of his classes. He's been outperforming many of the students. Especially in classes that matter." Killua brushed his hand through his hair before looking back at Kreed, a bored expression on his face. "Besides, to graduate from school and receive your degrees, you just need to pass the class. You could get 55% in a class and still receive your degree."

"Well," Lady Kreed began, pushing up her glasses and looking at Killua like he was an unknown specimen in a lab she intended on studying. "Aren't you knowledgeable. I never heard your last name, Killua. Do you mind telling me, or are you one of those rebellious young adults that wants nothing to do with their parents and refuses to respect their elders?"

The room went quiet for a second, but Killua just shook his head. "Oh no, I'm not like that. I do respect my elders, but only those who deserve respect." He responded, voicing dripping slightly with venom and I could feel the air go cold around us.

"Okay, then, what is your last name?"

Smirking, Killua leaned back a little more into the loveseat, doing his assessment of Lady Kreed. "I don't typically like to tell people at first because of personal reasons, but, if you must know, my last names Zoldyck."

An all to obvious chill spread throughout the room and I wanted to yell at Killua for being so daring. Out of the two of us, I was supposed to be the irrational one that jumped into a stupid situation. But here Killua was, playing with the personification of death like it was a cat toy.

No...

I looked at Killua one more time and then back at Lady Kreed, who faces had seemed to pale.

Killua never tells anyone his last name unless he knows that they'll be a pain in the ass without the oppression of power, but he also knows that with newfound respect, he'll also be forced into a position of a business, which he hates more than he hates peppers. He's playing a game of chess with Lady Kreed, and he just gave up a pawn to receive a chance. But what's his next move and why is he even playing the game?

"A Zoldyck?" She questioned, eyes turning into slight slits. "Explains the hair, I suppose."

"Yeah. You probably understand why I wouldn't want to tell you my last name now, but you forced my hand."

I couldn't help but seeing lightning clashing between the two, and it was a fight I didn't want to see the winner of, especially with the risk of getting kicked off the island.

"Dinner's ready," Mito shouted, ringing the dinner bell, and I have never been happier to hear that stupid bell because it broke them out of their trance.

We all got up, the two powerheads breaking eye contact as I pulled Killua towards the kitchen to avoid the people for a while.

"Are you crazy Killua?" I yelled whispered at him, putting a hand on his shoulder and thumbing at his shoulder, slightly massaging it, only to receive a quick eye roll and an unimpressed look directed at the dining room.

"Bloody old hag. How much you bet she asks me about some deal with my father. Such an old bitch," he grumbled, not looking me in the eye.

"Hey, look at me," I said, snapping beside his head to gain his attention. We held each other's gaze for a second before he let out a shallow breath, releasing some tension in his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, putting a hand on top of mine. "She's a condescending old woman who can't adjust to the times and I didn't like the way that she was talking to you. I know you might want to put up with it, but I don't want to see that happen." He grinned a little bit. "Besides, I wanted to see the hag play out at the mention of my name, especially after she'd been so bitchy."

I sighed, ruffling Killua's hair a bit, "You are such an asshole Killua. A great person, but an asshole." I turned to walk into the dining room.

Killua came up right to my side, tugging a little on my arm, threading his arm around mine, an evil grin twisted on his face. "A little hypocritical, aren't we?"

"Only with you." I noticed the hitch in Killua's voice and watched as his cheeks blushed over a bit more before he regained his composure.

"Okay, but seriously, how long do you think it'll take?"

"I bet twenty minutes, or once everyone's finished eating,"

"Ah, you rookie. It's gonna be fifteen minutes in."

——————————————————

Fifteen minutes of the boring conversation went by when Lady Kreed spoke up. "So, Killua. What does your family think of the fishing business?"

We both raised our heads and Killua sent me a look that could be simply put as 'I win this bet, loser.'

Looking over at Lady Kreed, Killua shrugged. "Wouldn't know. I haven't talked business with them in a long time."

"Surely you must know something. Especially since you going to Hunter University for business," she smirked, as if she had just laid out a move that was the winning move.

She only got her queen stolen.

"Why would you assume I went to school for business?" He asked, causing any slight hum of conversation at the table to go completely silent.

"Well, because it only seems like you would. Your family is quite wealthy and traditional, I'd only think it made sense. So if not business, are you in a political course, maybe a science?"

"I'm working towards a degree in Musical Composition,"

Mic

Drop

I couldn't hold back a snicker, which caused all head to turn to me, and I looked at Killua, whose eyes seemed to light up at my laughter. Like it was the one thing he had been waiting for all night.

"Gon, don't be disrespectful," Mito whispered harshly at me.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized, quickly stuffing my face with food to ward off any more conversation.

"Anyways," Killua continued, not letting a small and reprimanding smirk leave his face. "I don't have any current say in anything my father does with the company, but I was considered to inherit the company. I still am if my older brothers were to die in some freak accident, but whatever."

The table was quiet until someone started to pick up the conversation, and we all fell back into the lull that was Easter dinner.

——————————————————

"Thank you for the meal, Mito," Killua said as we both cleared the table once everyone had finally left.

She sighed. "I don't know what to do with you two." She turned around and looked at Killua. "Look, I know you don't know how things work around here, but we give respect to our elders no matter what. Your behavior tonight was outright disrespectful and I don't know what to say to you for you to understand."

Killua opened his mouth to say something but was curtly cut of by Mito pointing over at me. "And you didn't do anything to stop him from being so outright disrespectful, even encouraging his behavior. If anything you're worse than he is. What do you have to say for yourself Gon Freecs?"

I looked over at KIllua who had just continued clearing the table and rubbed the back of my neck. "She deserved it."

"Gon!"

"No, listen Mito," I said in a worried voice. "Killua didn't do anything wrong. E was just telling her off for trying to offhandedly call me stupid and try to bring me back to the island. She even went out of her way to insult Killua. She deserved to get humiliated like that."

"I don't even know what to say to you," Mito whispered before pointing towards the hallway. "Both of you finish cleaning up in here and then just go to your rooms. I don't want to say anything or hear anything about this. I'll let it pass over because... as much as I hate to admit it, it was entertaining. But! It's not okay."

She left Killua and me to clean up, and we glanced at each other. I let out a defeated huff and sat down on a chair, putting my head in my hands and rubbing my temples. I heard the soft clinking of plates and then some footsteps before I was greeted with the sight of Killua's sock-clad feet. They shifted slightly before, I felt a hand settle on my head and rubbing it a little.

Then, Killua wrapped his arms around my head, and I instinctively brought my arms to wrap around his waist, snuggling into his stomach.

"You big puppy," he whispered fondly, running his hands through my hair. It was quiet for a few more seconds before he took a heavy breath. "I'm sorry I caused so many problems. I thought that making her realizing her asshole-ish ness would get her to stop being a dick. But I suppose it kinda backfired."

"It didn't," I mumbled before standing up, letting my arms drop from his waist to my sides. "Today was the best Easter it could've been, and it's only causing you were here."

He shook his head, before grabbing a few more plates, and gesturing at the table. "Tell me while we work."

"Ugh, dude you have no idea," I groaned, grabbing some plates and following him. "Everyone bows down to her like she's some great entity but she's just a freaking old lady who just so happens to be the mayor of this place."

"Ahh, an old white person in power, I see what went wrong," Killua joked, and I couldn't help but smile through my rant.

"Exactly! And to make it worse, she berates me all the time. I'm the youngest person on this island. There are no other children because all the young people realized how restricting this place is and she wants to make sure that I stay to 'lead the next generation.' What kinda bullshit is that?"

"It's not bullshit, it's fishshit," Killua replied, turning on the sink and beginning to wash the dishes. "Continue."

"Yeah, anyways. I bargained with her that, if my grades start to drop below 70%, then I'd come back and study here and I mean, what kinda horrible thing is that. She even tried to use Mito into making me stay here."

"All the people here are the same. They believe that I should continue in the footsteps of all my predecessors and fish until I drop dead one day. And to make matters worse, they keep forcing this ideal person on me. I mean, I'm already friendly and outgoing, and I like being determined and ambitious towards my goals, they encourage that behavior, but only if I do it in their way."

Killua hummed, handing me a few more dishes to put away. "It sounds like how it was with my parents."

"Yeah, kinda similar. Kinda weird."

He nodded before handing me the last dish and letting the sink drain, drying off his hands and waiting until I had put the last dish away, before looking at me like he wanted to say something... maybe say something.

"Gon?"

"Yeah, Killua?"

"I..." he stopped for a second before a determined look took over his face and he grabbed my hand. "I want you to promise me that you'll talk to me. I know I can seem unapproachable, but I want you to know that you can tell anything. Okay?"

I smiled and pulled Killua into another hug. "Yeah, and the same goes for you."

It didn't pass by me the way that Killua tensed at what I said, and I couldn't help but become suspicious that something was wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

Killua POV

Did I mean to get Gon in trouble during the Easter dinner? No. Did I mean to act as bitchy as possible towards the old hag of the island Gon was always talking about? Yes.

... But don't tell.

As things went with Gon, he didn't often talk about things that bothered him. He doesn't complain about many things, and that's just because he has such a kind and welcoming personality. That being said, he did mention the horrid old lady more than once, and, the more he talked about the horrible person that was Lady Kreed, I knew that I would be the bitchiest bitch possible to her.

Unbeknownst to Gon, of course.

But I could see that he was, disappointed — maybe even hurt — when Aunt Mito scolded him, but he wasn't completely distraught about it. Maybe even a bit happy about seeing that old lady put in her place. Nonetheless, I can't stand to see him staring at the floor, eyebrows furrowed, obviously upset.

After a few cracked jokes and a few miniature heart attacks from his perfect smile and laugh — I swear to love him this much is going to send me to the hospitals one of these days — we had somehow migrated from the kitchen onto the roof, a canvas of stars above us.

"It amazes me how bright the stars are out here," I whispered, watching the subtle shift of clouds in the sky and feeling the soft breeze of the air against my skin. It was nice, refreshing. Just lying on a blanket we had laid out, enjoying the little things. No stress.

Gon laughed at my comment, turning onto his side to face me. "I know. It's one of the things I miss about here."

Also turning onto my side, I felt the corner of my lip twitch at his comment, before giving him a playful shove. "Do the things you miss include island 'family' dinners?"

He groaned before positioning himself sitting up and looking at the sky. "It used to be fine, but I guess growing older just allowed me to be less naive."

I continued to stare at him for a few, seconds. His face darkened to my side but the edges of his face were illuminated by the bright full moon on the island. His sharp features were even sharper and he looked breathtaking. I had to mentally check myself for a second before I responded.

"Being naive is okay," I answered to an unsaid question, rolling over onto my stomach, crossing my arms, and settling my head to face Gon, staring at where one of his hands rested on the roof. "Being naive just means that you have some sort of innocence to you, and everyone is naive in some way. I mean, if you want an example of good naivety, you can look of yourself. You can act a little naive once and a while, and people instantly warm up to you because of it. You are easily trusted due to it."

Gon nodded, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I suppose that's true." He paused for a second, fingers tapping in a perfect rhythm. With my ear against the roof, I could hear the small thuds they gave off and committed the little rhythm he played to memory. Then he stopped, exiting whatever part of his mind he had been trapped in, turning his head to look at me, raising an eyebrow. "So, how are you naive then?"

Stopping at the question, I looked up at Gon and shrugged. "I could guess at a few things. What do you think?"

We were both quiet for a second. "I think you're naive when it comes to...." He trailed off, rubbing his chin between his thumb and pointer finger.

He paused like he was trying to come up with a statement that'd he'd have to wrap his whole thesis paper around. Thinking a little too hard.

"I don't know Killua?" He whined, rubbing his temple before falling back to lie on the roof, causing a slight shake. "It's easy for you because you can, like, read people well, and you're better with words. It's not fair."

I snorted at his childishness covering up my smile and looking away from Gon. Taking in a few breaths I turned over onto my back and schooled my expression, finally looking back at him, to see him looking at me with a curious look.

"You're naive in trusting people," he said, his voice completely serious.

"What?" I laughed out, thinking he was joking, only for him to sit up again, staring burning into me.

"You're naive when it comes to trusting people," he restated as if it explained everything I needed to know.

I rolled my eyes, also sitting up and staring right back at him. "That's bold of you to assume, seeing as I do trust people."

He hummed for a second before looking away. "Killua, I know you have a low level of trust towards people, and that you don't just go spouting your worries to everyone with an open ear, but you do it to a fault. You don't tell things to people until they've eaten away at you from the inside out."

Letting it sink in, I drew my legs up to my chest and cradled them in my arms. "Isn't that just being overly cautious. Being naive about trust would mean I'm running around telling my problems to everyone."

"Awe come on Killua." He groaned, throwing himself back, for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. "I thought I had you there. I was gonna put that down as one of the few moments that I would outsmart you."

"Hmmm," I responded noncommittally, looking at the navy colored tree line and feeling my stomach squirm as my brain raced and made a decision that I'm not sure was a good or bad one.

"There is one thing I'd classify myself as naive at," I said, staring straight ahead, feeling Gon's eyes scanning my back.

I took in a deep breath and held my legs tighter to my chest. "I... god, this'll be so embarrassing." I could already feel my cheeks heating up rampantly and I wanted to kill myself for making myself think it, let alone say it. "I've never been in a relationship... as in a romantic relationship. Closest I ever got to it was when I was forced to dance with girls in junior high."

A soft silence laid overtop of the house. I don't know what Gon was doing, but he was going over what I had just said.

"So," he began quietly, not moving from his spot. "You've never fucked anyone?"

I went completely stiff, my blood racing through my boy in pure embarrassment, and shot a glare back at Gon. "Nice way of wording it," I snorted letting go of my legs and letting them drift off the ledge and sighing. "No, I haven't, but the embarrassing part doesn't stop there." I quickly turned around and looked at him for a second, seeing him furrowed his eyebrows. "I haven't even had my first kiss. I'm 21 and I haven't even kissed anyone."

"Is it that bad?" Gon asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I suppose not, just... I don't know. How many 21-year-old people do you know are virgins, let alone haven't even kissed anyone?"

"Not any that I can list off of the top of my head, to be honest." He sat up beside me and smiled. "Well, it's nice to know you're not more experienced in everything." He said softly before standing up. Stretching out his limbs, he smiled down at me and offered a hand.

Taking the hand, I raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

At that moment, Gon chooses to pull on my arm, dragging me up, and causing me to lose my footing, crashing right into his chest. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he laughed softly, his hot breath blowing into my face. "I'd like to say that I'm very experienced in that area." He said in a low hush that curled into my ears and down my spine.

I stepped back, face blooming bright red, and slowly brushed off my shirt, trying to act nonchalant. "That's nice?" I responded, slightly cursing at my horrid response.

He gave me a quick wink before starting to make his way to the ladder he had set up to get up here. I watched as he walked, not before pinching myself and sighing, following behind like it meant nothing.

Like always.

——————————-

I sat on the bed in my room, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a large t-shirt, looking at the papers in front of me— the five perfectly straight lines set up for me to begin writing out music.

This part I always found daunting. It just scared me off and I didn't know what to write about. Another problem with music for me. Emotion.

Bisky and I had gone over my problem time and time again, in which she always ended up by saying, 'You just wasn't putting in the soul you needed too.'

I wanted to believe she was wrong about it, but she was right, the same could be said for all aspects of my life.

Gon was right, I don't trust people enough to say anything, I don't even trust myself. And maybe this wasn't the best time to be having these revelations at how hopeless I was at a lot of things when at Gon's house, but the walls seemed to be thicker than at the dorms, and things just continued to poke at the feelings I was trying to cover.

Completely giving up, I stacked the papers together and put them on the bedside table, turning off the lamp and rolling over in bed looking at the messages Chi had left me over text.

What's popping dude?

How're things going?

K

You're gonna have to respond

Don't ignore me you, ungrateful tall person

Hello Chi

Ah, so he does live

Barely

Oh boo

What's up

I don't know, it's hard to explain.

A lot of things

Nothing

So

No progress with Gon

I'd be saying if there was, wouldn't I

True true

But what's on your mind bean

Gon's been kinda weird

Explain?

I mean. He's much more touchy, and he keeps flirting with

me. More so than normal

So!?

That means he might've noticed your...

limited and... painfully subtle advances

I sighed, skating my head, before pulling the sheets up to my chin.

But why would he?

If anything, I made more advances before and

he never noticed. But now he does?

It doesn't make sense.

Maybe he did notice you

Still doesn't make any sense

Maybe it does and you're just a negative shit

I snorted at that before sighing.

Yeah, maybe it does

Anyways, I'm tired and I'm not sure

when Gon will be up today. SO TTYL

Yeah Yeah

TTYL

I shut off his phone and then plugged it in, rolling back over and staring at the ceiling.

I tried to think if anything had changed if any factors were affecting what was going on. And there were a few.

One is that we were the only young people who weren't completely corrupted by the idealism of this island, so obviously I became a more appealing option. Also, Gon was always flirty. Maybe just being around each other for longer periods with no one else me him that much more.

As much as I hated to say it, I don't want it to be that way. I mean, I did want Gon to act this way towards me. For him to treat me differently from others. God, I wanted to feel like I was someone special to Gon, someone that was more than just his best friend. I wanted it, but this way it felt weird.

I wanted to say that all Gon's were actions of expressing interests, but the way he was going about it was such a throw of the coin. The way things were going, the toss-up of whether Gon really feels feelings for me or is just being like this because of reasons unknown to me, it hurt more.

But I could've never been sure, if Gon was trying to say something like this, then I would never know because I suck at reading feelings and emotions, no matter what Gon thought and if he was going to go about it this way, I'd never know.

Maybe an outright confession would convince me, but I doubt that Gon would ever be that interested. I probably just appeared to be a passing fling Gon could have. Not anything against Gon, no. It's me that's the problem because am I really interesting enough to keep someone there. I'm interesting enough, but this is Gon, someone who's interested in the world and seeing things, being positive and happy, always loved. I could give Gon some of that... but not all.

Groaning and pulling at my hair, I curled up into the sheets and stared at the door, which leads directly into a hall where Gon's door faced mine.

"This was such a bad idea," I whispered to myself, turning over once again in my sheets, and wiping away a tear that trickled down my face. Then another came, and another, until I was furiously wiping away at my face, and taking in deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.

After at least ten minutes, he seemed to have run himself dry, and, with no tears left to cry, he fell asleep.

——————————-

I sat out on the porch that afternoon, sipping some lemonade that Mito had made while finishing up the last bits of my homework. I was just me on the porch, Mito had gone into town and Gon had gone out to see some of his fishermen friends and go out on a trip, which I politely declined, wanting to avoid as many fishermen as possible and being too squeamish to deal with fish and worms. I was planning on being a musician for a career, like a hell I want to touch nasty things.

I put in the last line of the transcription of 1837 Chopin's "Etude in G# minor, OP.25; NO. 6", taking in a deep breath before sliding the pages together in order and slipping them into my bag and leaning back into my chair.

I looked around, admiring the view of the cliff edge and listening to the soft sounds of the waves crashing below. It was tranquil and it made so much more sense as to why Gon turned out the way he was. The natural environment he was raised in was so wild and carefree wore off on him.

I pulled out my phone, looking back at the texts I had sent chi before I sighed and left the messaging app to scroll through Instagram. Only about a minute into scrolling, I heard a tisk behind me.

"You came to the island to connect with nature, not scroll through your phone," Mito scolded before sitting down in a chair beside me, laughing when she saw the slightly pissed look I sent her way without even realizing. "I'm just teasing you. I understand why. It can get a little boring you're not trying to keep a rein on Gon."

"You can say that again," I huffed before turning off my phone and sliding down my seat, taking another sip of lemonade.

I could feel Mito's fond gaze on me and it was reminiscent of the look my mother would give me, but more with the feeling of love and motherly affection, less overprotective and doubting. We were both quiet for a few seconds, before Mito let out a staged cough, catching my attention.

"I wanted to thank you," she said, smiling at me with some sort of affection.

"For what?"

She sighed, before looking off at the sea. "For taking care of Gon."

I laughed a little bit before sitting up and leaning against the table, fiddling with the glass of lemonade. "He does that on his own."

"I know he can take care of himself, I wouldn't have let him leave so easily if that wasn't the case," she huffed, taking a sip from a mug in her hand, turning her head to face me. "I'm thanking you for just being there."

She was silent for a second before setting the mug down and letting out a soft sigh. "I especially want to thank you for last night. Lady Kreed is typically really harsh on Gon, likes to push him to stay on the island, keep the culture or whatever her motives are. Usually, she'll scold Gon for things that aren't that relevant, blow things out of proportion, and I just don't know what to do about it."

"She holds stuff over everybody's head, has blackmail for everyone and I just don't want to get on her bad side because it'll just be worse for Gon. Maybe it's selfish of me to not stand up for him, but that's what I've been taught and it's how I've lived... but it's not how I want Gon to live. If that makes any sense,"

I nodded before looking up at her and making eye contact, returning her soft smile with one of my own.

"So, I just wanted to thank you for being a brat."

"That's a little, harsh," I laughed, my smile growing wider.

"Not really, you were being one. I oughta hit you, but you helped Gon get through the night, so I'm grateful."

Then the silence between us returned. A quaint silence that was warm and full, something nice for a change.

Looking over at Mito, I saw something pass over her, something sad and I shook my head slightly, knowing I was getting myself into something I might not want to be a part of. But I opened my mouth anyway. "Is there something else on your mind?"

She shook her head and stared at the mug in front of her. "Gon was right about you being perceptive."

"I try my best," I quip before schooling my face into something a little more serious, but with a soft smile. "But seriously, what's up?"

She was silent for a few more seconds as she fiddled with her necklace then inhaled slowly. "I know it's good for Gon to go to university, that's it's an amazing opportunity for him to go there, but it hurts for him to leave."

"I see." I hummed quietly, watching the condensation drip down my glass, thinking of the proper way to respond. "You o know Gon will always come back to you, right?"

"Yes, I know. I just miss him, that's all," she laughed. "When you spend so much time with someone, especially if you raise them, it weird not to have them around, especially him."

I couldn't think of things for me to say for a bit. There wasn't much I could say. "I'm sure Gon misses you just as much, he just doesn't know it yet," I decided on saying, which got Mito's attention.

"It's just weird not having him around all the time. Kinda feels like a part of myself is missing"

"I know," I paused for a second before laughing. "Well, not, my families kind of messed up, but I know you and Gon are close, so I could guess what it's like. If there's any time you want me to give Gona a good slap on the head for not visiting, just call."

Mito sniffed beside me before wiping at the bottoms of her eyes and shaking her head. She looked at me for a few seconds before putting a hand on my shoulder and squeezing lightly. "You're such a sweetheart."

Our little soft moment was then ruined by loud thudding throughout the house and the infamous Gon bursting through the doors and smiling at both of us.

"I just talked to the guys, there's a boat leaving port at 5 pm, so we should get ready to leave," Gon said before moving to stand in front of the table, the potent smell of fish and sea falling off him in waves.

I could see Mito raise an eyebrow at Gon for a second before sighing. "Do you have to leave today?"

"Well," Gon started, knowing where this conversation was gonna lead to. "It's either today or Friday evening, which only gives us the weekend to finish all of our homework and get ready for school."

He stopped talking and I looked over at Mito who was disappointed by what Gon had just said.

"Hey, Gon," I said softly, turning my attention back to him. "Can we talk inside for a bit?"

"Sure,"

I grabbed my bag the glass of finished lemonade and we both walked inside, and I made sure the door was closed behind me before I looked up at Gon.

"I think you should stay till Friday," I said.

"What?"

I inhaled deeply looking out at Mito who had opened up a book I hadn't noticed before, but her eyes weren't directed at the book, but out at the cliff. I put my bag down on one of the chairs and set my glass down on the counter before leaning up against it, facing Gon. "You should stay." I looked back over at him. "You haven't spent much time with Mito and you've been gone for three months now with only phone calls. She probably misses you a lot."

He was quiet for a few seconds, staring at me and frowning. "Is that okay with you?"

"Is it okay with me? Gon, you don't need to ask that. I probably should've stayed back anyways, I took up to much time here."

"You didn't tho—"

"Gon," I interrupted, standing up and taking a few steps forward till it was only the table in the middle of the room that separated. "Just... look, I'm telling you to stay and spend some time with your aunt without me around. Kay?"

He went quiet only moving so he could get a better view of Mito, who still hadn't move from her spot, still glaring out at the ocean as if it had personally offended her.

And maybe it had.

"She misses you," I whispered as he stepped "She just doesn't want you to worry about her. I wouldn't have told you, but," I paused, leaning forward onto the chair in front of me, my shoulders rising to my ears when I looked over to the pictures on the wall of Gon and his aunt, smiling and happy. The happiness captured in these pictures was so serene and legitimate, it made a small smile cross over my face again, before I looked back at Gon who was staring at me.

"But, what?"

I shook my head, standing up and grabbing my bag, "But, somethings are just meant to be said."

Gon didn't respond right away just looking at me for a few more seconds before sighing and nodding. "I'll stay then."

"Okay. I'm going to go pack my bag now,"

With that, Gon went outside to talk to Mito an I went up the stairs to my room and looked out my window to see Mito hugging gone, before scolding him and then pointing towards the house, probably yelling at him to take a shower.

I couldn't help but smile, pushing back the voice in my head yelling at me to stay, to assert myself, to never let Gon go. The voice whispered to yell at him my feelings, to declare it all. But I pushed it back further and started packing.

——————————-

"Thanks for helping me with carrying my stuff down," I smiled at Gon, who had set one of my bags down on the dock beside me.

"I still think you packed too much," he huffed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

I furrowed my brows before giving him a light tap on the head. "I packed for between two days to a week, which is what you said. Unlike someone, I do try to wear a variation of clothes."

He laughed before Mito rolled her eyes at him. "Stop teasing KIllua, Gon. You're supposed to be saying goodbye, not giving him reasons to slap you."

I laughed before stepping forward and offering a hand to Mito who shook her head, "Stop being polite and give me a hug."

She then stepped forward, and I leaned down and bit to hug her only to hear her whisper, "Thank you so much." To which I replied, "No problem."

I pulled back from the hug first and smiled at Mito who smiled brightly and then pointed her finger towards the market nearby. "I'm going to leave now, but have safe travels, Killua. I hope to see you around soon."

"Definitely. Thank you so much for your hospitality."

"You're welcome, Killua." And, with that, she left, leaving just Gon and I and all the other people loading onto the boat.

"Thanks so much for inviting me to the island, and letting me eat your food and force you to show me around the island. It was a great time." I said to fill the silence, only to gain a chuckle from Gon.

"You make it sound like you forced me to come here and not the other way around," He replied, punching my shoulder lightly before I rolled my eyes.

"I'm just trying to be funny but since you're taking it so literally, I'll just go."

Gon quickly grabbed my hand, as if what I said had been completely serious and not partially. "I don't mean that Gon, I'm just joking," but as soon as I said that, someone in the distance yelled out for my boat to load up. "But, I should get going now."

"Do you have to leave?" he said hurriedly as if it was something that had to burn him up for the past four hours.

"Gon," I sighed before, dropping the bag I pike up and grabbing his hand with both of mine. "I don't want to intrude too much —"

"But—"

"And I know you say that I'm not, but with me around, you won't be able to have some quality time with Mito, and you guys need that. Okay?"

He nodded before I laughed. "You'll see me in basically three days, even less, so it's not like it's going to be months from now that you see me."

"I know," he paused before pulling me into a hug, his face tucked into my neck. I slowly returned the hug resting my chin on his shoulder. "I'll just miss you a lot."

I was lost. The hug made me want to spill my guts, right there on the docks, to tell him everything I had been feeling, how I didn't want to leave. I wanted him to know about everything. I felt so safe, so secure, more so than ever in my life. But I couldn't say anything, only squeezing him a little tighter before letting go. I stepped back and grabbed my bags and looked back at him, offering a half-smile.

"I'll see you back at the dorms,"

"Yeah, see you."

With that, I turned away and boarded onto the ship, turning back to see Gon looking at me and I waved at him with a tight-lipped smile, which he returned with one of his bright smiles that always made my heart soar.

I made my way down to my room and I fell onto the bed hugging the pillow tight to my chest. Trying to pretend he was there, holding me in his arms, that he knew it all and he returned it all.

But I could never let those words slip out into the open, not if I wanted to stay by his side, because, for now, staying by his side was enough.

And, for now, some things were better left unsaid.


	13. Chapter 13

Gon's POV

I watched as the boat sailed away. Watching as it sailed back to the mainland where Killua would then travel to school.

I sighed, releasing some pent-up feelings within me before turning back around and heading to find Mito in the market. I looked around and waved to the vendors, stopping to talk with a few of them before buying something and walking away, back on my mission to find Mito.

I eventually did find her talking to a fisherman, keeping a quiet conversation between the two of them before I strolled up to her side, immediately ending the conversation.

"Did the boat leave already?' she asked me, before offering a good-bye to the fisherman and leading us towards the path home.

"Yeah, about 20 minutes ago," I answered, waving to one of the shopkeepers before looking back down the path.

"He's a really sweet boy," Mito said before she took out an apple and handed it to me.

I took it and bit into the shiny red, taking in the juicy flavor. "Yeah, he's nice. I got really lucky to have him as a roommate. Leorio got someone who wasn't all that pleasant. A total shut-in."

"I thought you said Killua was kind of like that in the beginning," Mito asked me with an inquisitive look.

"He wasn't reclusive per se, just shy. He never really got along well with people when he was younger."

"Did he do bad things or something?"

I stopped. I never really got an answer from Killua as to why people avoided him in school. He kinda just said it in way of they did it because they did. "I don't know. He just told me he didn't get on well with them."

Mito shrugged, looking at me with a soft smile. "Well, I don't know why they would've been so rude to him if he was the way he is now. He's such a delight. He gets wound up so easily."

"I know. It's cute if anything. I could never get as embarrassed about things as he is."

Mito laughed and patted my shoulder. "Believe me, I know. I've only seen you embarrassed when I force you to return the lollipop you had pocketed when you were six."

"I was embarrassed because you made a huge scene about it," I whined, which was interrupted by my laughing.

We were silent for a while before we crossed one of the hills, now able to see the house in the distance.

"So, have you gone on any dates yet?" Mito asked, a cheeky smirk on her face.

I snorted and looked up. "I haven't gotten around to it. I've been focusing on my studies more than anything. But there is a girl in my first-year biology class who I'm a little interested in. I'm going to show her around the city when we get back."

Mito paused where she was walking and raised an eyebrow. "Ohhh, I see."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's the 'Oh, I see' for. Did you think I'd have a girlfriend or something by now?"

She shook her head and continued walking. "No, it's nothing, just me assuming things."

"What are you assuming?" I laughed.

She looked me in the eyes before chewing on her lip and sighing. "I'll tell you but you better be mature about it."

I nodded, watching her with an overly confused expression.

"I thought you and Killua were dating." She said, making sure to keep her pace as she said that, as if keeping walking would save her from some sort of embarrassment.

Though she may have kept walking. I stopped completely and let my mouth drop. Did she think that?

"Really?!" I half-laughed watching as she turned around to look at me. "Why?"

She sighed. "Maybe it was just me over-analyzing or something. But you two seemed very comfortable around each other. You seemed to be a little touchy than normal with him. Just a lot of little things that didn't mean anything made me think that."

I nodded before trotting forward to catch up to her. I didn't say anything because I didn't know how to think about that. Maybe it was because Killua was someone I had gotten close to in a short while. When we were together it felt like we had known each other in a previous life, so things just seemed to click for me. Maybe I was being too forward with it. But it wasn't like Killua had ever said anything against it. Not like he avoided the attention.

But it wasn't like he would know what a romantic action was, or flirty. He said it himself, he knew next to nothing about romantic relationships.

"I hope me thinking that doesn't make anything weird between the two of you." Mito broke the silence, as we hit the final stretch before the house.

"No, it's good. I just never really thought about it too much," I answered, trying to smile a bit.

"Just," she stopped for a second as if choosing her words. 'When you're with him consider how he might feel. I know you can be a little negligent to other's feelings at times."

"I would—"

"I know you wouldn't purposely hurt him, but Killua, despite how strong he may act, seems like the type to crumble easily. I've never seen some look at another person with so much emotion as when he looks at you." Mito said as she unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

"Does he look at me like that?" I asked quietly, more of myself than anyone else.

"I only caught him staring at you once, so I could be wrong, but... I can tell he cares about you."

And with that, she went into the kitchen, leaving me there in the entranceway, staring at my feet. I slowly took off my shoes and make my way to my room, but not before looking into the room across where Killua ha been staying. I changed directions and walked into the room, everything neatly in place as if he had never been there before.

Sometimes I wish I read people's thoughts. Even if I could only ever read one person's thoughts. I'd probably waste it on Killua. He was always so quiet and never told me about what he was thinking. Living like that, everything locked up inside, I don't think I'd ever been able to do that. But Killua was different, he seemed to be able to handle the weight of the world if asked... but I'd never want to put that burden on him.

Maybe Mito was right, maybe I do need to be more considerate. So far I have just been putting pressure on him to do things with me, dragging him with me to who knows where, and maybe he didn't want that. And I'd never know because he'd never say.

I groaned, running a hand through my hair before leaving the room and heading into my room. Picking up my phone to send a quick text to Killua.

Gon

Text me once you get back to the land

With that, I threw my phone onto my bed and followed with it, curling up into the sheets and watching the sun fade away completely into the horizon.

Killua would've liked to see that view.

I don't know how it happened, but I eventually fell asleep, letting the worries I had to wait until I woke up and felt like dealing with them.

It was Friday morning. The almost three days I had spent on the island felt more like a holiday than anything. I was so used to falling asleep in the dorms it felt like staying in a hotel at the island. My bed was not only bigger but of better quality and the food was better than the rushed and coldish breakfast sandwiches at the school's on-site chain cafes.

In summary, I didn't want to leave.

"Welp, I'll be back sometime in summer," I said to Mito as we stood on the docks, much like Killua and I had a few days before.

"You better," she said wagging a finger at me. "And don't forget to call every night."

"Have I ever?" I snorted before pulling her into a hug.

"Not yet," she sighed, giving me a good squeeze.

We hugged for a minute more before I broke it off and threw my bag over my shoulder. "I should go now. But I'll make sure to send you a message when I get back."

"I would be disappointed if you didn't."

And with that, I walked up the boarding plank, giving Mito one last wave before going into my cabin and lying on the bed. I pulled out my phone and looked at the last message left.

Killua

I'm back, worrywart

When I had gotten the text I couldn't help but laugh at it, especially because it was such a Killua thing to say. But that was it, all I got from him. He probably didn't want to text me because it would've been a 'distraction' from my aunt.

I closed my phone and took a deep breath. I was excited to get back, to finally finish all the stupid assignments had due on Monday and breathe in a little bit of that city air — as nasty as it was — but I was most excited to see Killua.

That had been the longest we had been without each other since January when we first started, and I was weird to be without him.

As a side note, I needed to text Ella about when we were going to meet up, maybe make it into something fancier, a little more romantic.

I was interested in her. She was a bit on the abrasive side of the spectrum, but she was nice enough and had shown some interest in me, so I thought I'd give her a try. See how things went when we meet up, and if they went well, maybe ask her on a date.

Yeah, that'd be nice.

Finally docking, I said goodbye to the captain, and as soon as I hit land, I felt the phone in my pocket vibrate vigorously. I pulled it out to see nearly a million messages from all sorts of people. Leorio was texting about a clubbing event tomorrow that we should head out to, Kurapika mentioning something about me not showing up with Killua, Zushi texting about some assignments.

Lastly, there was a text from Killua.

Killua

Hey. I decided to come to pick you up. I'll be standing by the bike rental stand when you get there.

I felt my heart squeeze a bit, scaring me a bit. What the hell was that?

I thought on it for a second before I continued on my way towards where Killua had designated, rounding the corner to see a familiar head of hair.

I felt my breath suck in a bit at the sight of him. His back was turned towards me, hair glowing a soft pink as the wind whipped through it. He was wearing a burnt amber turtle neck that was a size or two too big paired with ripped jeans and black converse. He looked ethereal, reminding me of how he looked against the moonlight on Monday as we sat on the roof.

My heart thudded one more time before I retrained my thoughts and continued on my way, raising my hands to my mouth. "Hey, Killua."

And with that, I swear my brain stopped functioning for a bit — honestly, I didn't know what was going on — Killua turned around, deep blues eyes wide as he looked around finally making contact with me, waving his hand and a smile breaking out onto his face, nose wrinkling up and lifting the round gold-rimmed glasses sitting there.

When the hell had he gotten those glasses?

He walked towards me, sliding his phone into his pocket, which somehow snapped me out of my trance, enough for me to meet him halfway and wrap my arms around his waist, head tucked into his shoulder, smelling the scent of sweets and a bit of wood.

He laced his arms around my shoulders for a quick second before pulling away and smiling, his cheeks flushed. "You didn't change much while I was gone."

"I missed you," I whispered before pushing a hair out of his face.

Like seriously Gon, what the hell are you doing?

He snorted, "Missed you too, you lug. Now shall we start walking back before it's too dark."

I nodded, grabbing his hand and leading him back towards the University.

Killua was surprised at my actions, taking a little while to catch up, but once he did, we looked at each other in the eyes. A humorous glint filled his eyes and I couldn't help but smile.

"Am I that missable?" Killua quipped as I finally dropped his hand.

"Yes. As well as the city air, and the loudness, it's all very missable," I responded, which caused a nasty but adorable snort to leave Killua's direction.

"That's the first time I've ever been grouped with the two most hated things about cities,"

"Hey! Those are my favorite things about the city. The air is so much more fragrant and filled with so many scents, you know it's lived in. And the noise makes me feel secure like there's always someone around and stuff."

"I suppose that is true. Very valid points from you Gon,"

The soft hum of the city noise took away our conversation as we continued to walk towards the uni, which would be visible within a few blocks. I contemplated whether or not to tell Killua about Mito thinking that we were dating. Deciding against it because I didn't want to deal with the repercussions of mucho embarrassed Killua.

"How was the island for the rest of your trip?" Killua finally asked, looking down at his hands before rubbing them together and breathing warm air into them. I took pity on him and pulled him to the side, slipping off my jacket and giving it to Killua.

He looked at the jacket as if I was giving him a gun and asking him to shoot someone. "I-I don't need that Gon, it's only a few more blocks to go and I don't want you to get cold." He stammered shaking his hands in front of him.

I sighed before pulling one of his arms in, not at all shocked about how quickly the jacket just sucked him in. He looked at me for a second with a pout on his face and pulled the other sleeve on, starting to walk again.

I followed, falling back into my spot beside him and answering his question. "It was good. Mito and I had a nice quiet time sitting around and t=catching up in person. I also got some school work done."

"That's good, now you won't have a pile-up of work for the weekend,"

"Yeh means more time to enjoy spending the break with friends and all, seeing as I didn't get too that yet."

Killua nodded before we turned onto campus, now making our ways towards the dorms. "Are you talking about the club Leorio was talking about going to?"

"Yeah, I was. How'd you know? I thought you refused to give Leorio your number."

Killua rolled his eyes, shoving his hands deep into his — no, my — jackets pockets. "I did, but he and Kurapika kept crashing in our dorm and only left when I threatened to jump out the window."

"They left after that?" I asked, knowing my friends were too stubborn to leave after the weak threat.

"No, they didn't," Killua grumbled, shrinking into the jacket. He snorted then looked at me. "but they did when I opened up the windows and sat on the ledge facing inwards, staring at them until they left."

I let out a bellowing laugh after that and hunched over, holding my stomach. "Holy shit, Killua."

I continued to laugh until I looked up to see Killua just staring at me a small smile on his face. I couldn't help but think about what Mito said.

I stood up and looked right at him, the laughing completely gone, and an intense feeling branching between the two of us. Normally, if I caught Killua doing anything next to staring, he looks away, and he almost did this time, but not this time.

I took a step forward, testing the waters to see how far this was going to go. I wanted to know what he was thinking about, standing there looking at me like worlds revolved around me, tucked into my jacket, looking gorgeous.

And maybe I could know what he's thinking, I thought as I stepped forward, watching the small flushing that was raising Killua's cheeks, the distance between us minuscule. Just like on Monday before the dinner, or Monday night on the roof.

Something kept drawing me into Killua and I didn't know what it was.

Suddenly, Killua looked away, and coughed into his fist, staring at the ground, back of his head turned toward me. "Sorry about that, I zoned out."

"It's okay Killua," I said, before slinging my arm around his shoulder and tugging him in closer. With that we kept walking, Killua's hands tucked into my jacket, the tips of his ears a brilliant pink, hair glowing in the moonlight.

We walked a for a little longer, starting to get closer to the dorms where there was going to be more people to see and talk to.

Not sure if I was excited about it or not.

I looked at Killua one more time smiling and leaning down a bit so mouth was by his ear. "I didn't tell you earlier but you look beautiful."

Everything tensed up in Killua for that second, before he brought his hands up to his face to hide it, bumping into his glasses in the process.

I grinned at that, slightly proud of myself for being able to make Killua so flustered. I pulled away, standing back up and dropping my arm from around his shoulder. A bit later, Killua's hand found mine and held it, but he wouldn't look me in the eye, face looking straight forward.

I smirked, before squeezing his hand. Whatever was going on between us, this whole friend roommate's thing was something I was happy about. I was more than happy to be with Killua and have Him comfortable around me. And maybe I didn't have to figure out what the hell this is. As long as I can have Killua around I don't need to put a label on it.

Much to my surprise, no one stopped us there was barely anybody there. "Is there a reason the place isn't on fire?" I asked Killua who snorted.

"Probably because people are still away, some are out for dinner, and others are attempting to sleep off the jet lag,' He responded, as we finally got into the dorm room.

I hummed throwing my bag into my room and turning around to see Killua holding out my jacket, which I pushed back in his direction. "Keep it, I have at least three others like it and I have yet to see you with any jackets."

He opened his mouth to protest before promptly closing it and setting it over one of the stools in front of him. "What do you want for dinner, I went out and did a grocery run so we have a full fridge as of right now."

I hummed before picking up my phone, "I want to eat some greasy Chinese food if that's good with you,"

"Good, I didn't want to have to cook," Killua groaned before flopping on the couch.

"Okay then, I said before walking to stand beside where Killua was laid out. So a beef stir fry with egg noodles then?" I asked.

"You know me so well," he huffed. And with that, I called the Chinese restaurant down the road. While waiting for them to pick up, I picked up Killua's head, feelings a groan in protest, sitting down and setting his head down on my legs, slowly brushing my hand through his hair.

"Hello, Golden Nugget, how may I help you?" A girl on the other end asked.

"Hey, I'd like to order a beef stir fry with egg noodles and a rice bowl with chicken and assorted vegetables."

"Okay. Anything to drink?"

"Yeah, I can I get a liter of cola?"

"Sure thing. Are you in our database?"

"Yep, under Gon Freecs."

There was a pause before a hum of confirmation. "Okay, everything is in order, it'll be there in a short while. Thank you for ordering with the Golden Nugget."

"Thanks."

And with that a hung up, looking down to see Killua nearly purring, eyes closed and a content smile on his face.

"Happy are we,"

He opened his eyes and looked up at me, "I missed having you around. It was too quiet." He whispered, reaching up to grab my hand.

"You could've stayed," I said back, watching as Killua rolled his eyes, sitting up and adjusting his position so that he was facing me, one leg propped up against the back of the couch and the other on the floor.

"But then you wouldn't have gotten as much quality time with your aunt."

"Killua," I groaned, letting my head fall back onto the couch. "You were never getting in the way of that, you know that, right?"

He sighed, leaning onto the couch.

I put my hand on his knee and let it rest, there continuing to look at him. "It's nice to be back, by the way."

"Good," he huffed. "I was worried that old hag would've forced you into staying or something."

"I wouldn't have stayed if they offered the whole island to me."

Killua smiled at that, before leaning forward and grabbing the remote, turning the TV on and turning to face it, then handed it to me. "Choose something to watch. I'm going to go change."

He got up and left the couch. Leaving me to sit for a while as I scrolled aimlessly through the channels, waiting for either something interesting to pop up or Killua to come out, roll his eyes at me, and pick a channel for himself.

The second almost happened, because Killua had come out of his room, and sighed at me, making his way forward to ask what was taking so long when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he mumbled, before walking up an opening the door, to see the delivery man.

"Hi, how much is it?" He asked the guy at the door.

"T-twenty four dollars and sixty cents," Killua nodded, before leaning more into the dorm and gesturing for me to come forward. I made my way towards them and Killua smiled towards the delivery man.

"Just give me a second, I need to get my wallet. Gon, keep him company," Killua said, before turning away.

I was still in a half sleepy state, I suppose from the jet lag or whatever, but I didn't hear what the guy said to me, so I refocused myself and gestured for him to repeat himself.

"Is that your boyfriend?" The guy asked, obviously talking about Killua.

"No, he's my roommate," I answered, frowning my eyebrows at the comment. "Why are you asking?"

"Dude? How do you not hit that, especially when he's parading around your apartment like that,"

Needless to say, I was even more confused at this point, so I looked in to see Killua throw his bedroom door, where he was bent over looking through his desk draws, his oversized t-shirt just barely covering up his ass, black boxers peeking out from under the hem, leaving next to nothing to imagination.

My eyes grew nearly to size at that and I turned to look at the delivery guy, who was also sneaking a peek. I shut the door so it was just my body in the door, blocking anybody from looking into the room.

"Ahh, come on my, help a fellow out. What's his name?"

"I'm not telling you to shit," I growled lowly at him, staring him directly in the eyes. "And you better fucking leave him alone. If I hear anything about you around him, I will punch you out, got it?"

The guy was shaking under my gaze, only nodding, saved only by Killua around the corner. "Here you go, here are thirty-five dollars."

"Thanks, have a great evening," he said before handing the door to me and leaving as soon as possible.

"Odd guy. Killua mumbled before I stepped back into the apartment and he closed the door.

He took the food from me and set it on the counter, grabbing utensils and two glasses for the pop, throwing in ice, and filling them almost full.

While he did all of this, I couldn't help but watch him. His long pale legs completely visible and the shirt riding down o halfway up his thighs.

I felt hot looking at him, so I turned away a coughed into my fist, trying to get rid of the thoughts I was having. "I'm going to go change."

"Okay. Did you have something you wanted to watch or can I pick?"

I started to walk to my room and waved at the dorm aimlessly. "Go ahead."

"Okay,"

Once in my room, I closed my door almost all the way and I went to my closet, quickly throwing off my long sleeve shirt and jeans, pulling on a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. I looked at myself and nodded as if I was preparing myself for a battle.

I exited my room, only to see Killua curled in a ball on the couch, an episode of the office ready to be watched. In front of him sat a Chinese take out container, which I assumed was mine as he was already facing deep in the one in his hands. I walked across the room and sat down right beside him, grabbing the takeout and leaning back.

Killua started the episode, throwing the blanket over both of us, leaning up against my shoulder.

"Affectionate tonight, aren't we," I quipped at him, earning a small glare.

"I could stop if you don't like it," he responded, to which I shook my head vigorously, shoving rice into my face. "That's what I thought," he smirked before taking another fork full of noodles and snuggling more into the blankets.

The episode continued to ply and we both laughed at the pure insanity that was going down, our containers of food now long empty. Killua had curled up into my side, headrest slightly on my shoulder, and head leaning on his. The episode was coming to a close, so I looked down at Killua to see that he was near sleeping, eyes half shut, blanket just barely hanging onto his shoulder.

I turned my head, planting a small kiss on his forehead, before I turned the TV off, standing up and scooping him, blanket and all, into my arms. Only a small ham was all the recognition I got as I carried him into his room, setting him on his bed.

"You know I can walk right," he whispered, a sleepy smile on his face.

"Yeah, but I'll consider that as a favor."

"A how shall I ever repay said favor," he said with a small roll off of his tongue, blue eyes glowing with mischief.

"Come to the club tomorrow with me?" I asked, hopeful that he would expect.

He looked at me for a while, obviously considering his options, before he sighed. "Fine, I'll go, but you better not get drunk, or I'll kick your ass."

Chuckling at the threat, I nodded before shrugging. "No promises, I usually let Kurapika be on drunk Gon duty, but I have a feeling he'll be up in the drinks as well and I don't want to be the only one missing out."

Killua huffed, a small pout on his lips. "So have I now been downgraded to a designated driver."

"So, it would seem."

He sighed, looking at the window then a time. "Fine, I'll go, but only if you buy me ten bars of chocolate on Sunday."

I nodded ecstatically. "Will do."

"Okay, now get some sleep you big lug," Killua said in the softest voice and I felt the look he was giving me crawl up my spine and cause me to shiver.

"Okay, good night."

And with that, I left his room, watching for a second as he situated himself under the covers, then going to my room and doing the same.


	14. Chapter 14

Killua POV

I woke up around eight in the morning, which was normally not the time I would get up on the weekend. Why I woke up earlier was a mystery to me but what was even more surprising was the fact I was the first one out of the two of us to wake up. I mean, it made sense because Gon had been in a different time zone for a bit more than I had. I spent more time to adapt back in Yorknew time, while Gon was still functioning at the same time as Whale Island.

After I had emerged from my room to silence, not seeing Gon sitting on the couch, drinking his tea while going over his leftover homework, I went on with my daily routine. I grabbed some sweatpants and sweaters and hopped into the shower. Then, after drying my hair, I ventured into the kitchen to see if there was anything I could make food with.

Recently, I had been a bit more invested in actually trying to cook, and maybe it just came with being a more independent adult or something along those lines, but I was cooking. This morning seemed to be one of those where I was intrigued by just some plain old eggs and toast. When I said I became more interested in cooking, I never meant that I had become better or anywhere good at it.

So, as I monitored the eggs, waited for the toast to pop up, and started boiling water for when Gon eventually exited his room, I scrolled through my phone checking my twitter feed and rolling my eyes at the extreme drama surrounding all celebrities. As a son to one of the richest families on the planet, my life had once been constantly filled with these types of interactions. At a point, probably after a month of being in the public scene, they had just become too much.

Drawing me out of the drama was the sound of Gon's door open and I looked over to see a drowsy Gon slowly inching his way out of the room. I smiled and gestured towards the kettle whilst taking a sip of my coffee.

"I started boiling some water for you," I said before setting down my mug.

"Thanks, Killua," Gon smiled at me before moving around the island and grabbing a mug from the cupboards, slowly going through his vast selection of tea.

Eventually, we ended up sitting at the island eating our eggs and toast in comfortable silence. These were the moments that I enjoyed most with Gon, along with with pretty much all the other ones, but it was nice to be by his side again. Especially after being apart for a while.

And that's the whole reason why I was so clingy yesterday. The days we spent apart really hit a tone with me. It felt like how I felt whenever my parents refused to let me play the guitar or when they made me drop band in my second year of high school. It felt horrible, and I didn't know what to do about it at first.

It came down to me thinking about it, and I decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay for me to allow myself to be a bit more selfish with my actions. To start taking matters into my own hands, as Chi was always saying. Showing my affection a little bit more and being more forward... maybe Gon would start to notice me as a bit more than a friend. If not, then it was nice to know I could allow myself to indulge a bit.

"So," I began after finishing my last bite and taking a sip of coffee. "What time were we planning on meeting up with them?"

"Well, probably around sixish. That's when happy hour starts at the club so we may as well go and get as many drinks as possible when they're cheaper — we are students." I snorted a bit at Gon who was smiling widely. "If that is okay with you, Killua."

"Yeah, whatever times good with me, it's not like I'll be drinking," I finished, standing up and stacking our plates, walking towards the sink.

"You know, you could drink if you wanted." I turned to look at Gon before raising an eyebrow at him. "Like, I could do the designated thing or maybe we can get someone else to."

I shook my head, setting the dishes in the sink before leaning against the counter. "No, it's fine. Besides, I've never been 'drunk' drunk, just tipsy."

Gon's lips quirked up and I could see that what I had said piqued his interest, making me regret saying anything. "So that means you've never gotten to experience the full drunk experience. Then you should drink tonight. I can take over for you."

At that, I started to wave my hands a bit. "No, there is no way I'm going to get drunk tonight. I have no idea how I'll act."

Gon rolled his eyes at me, and I got a little bit offended to be on the receiving side of the sass. "Come on Killua. It's better to get drunk now with people who will look out for you. If it makes you feel better, I won't leave your side all night."

I sighed, knowing that this was going to go nowhere fast and, even if I did hate to admit it, Gon had a few good points. Maybe I should try to loosen up a bit. "Fine fine, but you are completely responsible for whatever the hell happens because I have no idea what will happen."

And Gon lit up like a firework. He got up and started prancing a bit around the kitchen. "Oh, I can't wait to see what type of drunk you are. That's always the best part of going out to the club. It's like seeing a tiny alter ego hidden with everyone."

I laughed at his giddiness before I turned my attention back to the dishes and began to wash them up a bit. To be truthful, I'm happy that it was Gon who had been the one to suggest it. I had been meaning to try out getting drunk, just so I wouldn't surprise myself, but I never got many chances to.

At that moment, Gon's phone buzzed on the island and he turned his attention to it before laughing at whatever message he had gotten. I felt a spike of curiosity course through me. "What's got you laughing?" I asked in a teasing tone to disguise my evident curiosity.

"Just a message that Ella sent me. It was some sort of 'rare meme' as she put it,"

And, despite the nonchalance appearance I tried to put on, I couldn't help but feel my jealousy flare-up. Maybe it had been because he hadn't mentioned her since before Easter break, or maybe because I subconsciously repressed the memory, but I completely forgot about Ella, the whole Ella and Gon thing being a thing and the fact that it was a possible hammer to all of my feelings.

That's right, Killua. He shows interest in someone else completely different from you. Not interested.

And everything was just better with the remind — please sense the sarcasm.

But, like the shit I am, I just brushed it off and asked a question I knew that would rush my soul, but apparently, I just love to hurt myself. "So, when's your little date?"

Gon went quiet for a bit, looking like he was finishing off a text back and looked up at me, his facial expression unreadable, which always something I couldn't read and it kind of scared me. Seeing Gon without his emotion on his sleeve was worrying.

"I mean, I'm not sure if it's a date," he said before looking back at his phone then back at me. "I was just gonna show her around town you know. Become acquainted with her and all that jazz."

The atrocious snort I let out startled both Gon and I. Gon's face morphed to a bit of a defensive frown and I regretted allowing myself to let go a bit.

"What was that snort about?" he asked, his voice curious, and different from the harsh and slightly angered tone I was expecting.

"Sorry, I didn't me to do that—"

"You might not have meant to do it out loud, but there's the meaning behind it Killua." He straightened out and made his way towards me, ending up standing about a foot away from me. "So, tell me."

I shook my head, tugging at the edges of my sleeve. "It's nothing Gon. Just a nasty snort. Nothing else."

And he let out a sigh that should've only come from someone who had born with the burdens of a nation at war, or maybe just a really old man. I felt fully offended by it. "I honestly don't know what to do with you."

"And what the hell do you mean by that?"

"You know, I'd prefer if you'd just speak your mind over keeping it all locked up in your head," and he jabbed a finger into my forehead.

I opened my mouth before closing it and swatting his hand away, then crossing my arms in defiance. "I'm entitled to do whatever the hell I want with my thoughts, Gon."

"You are, but what you're doing is just building it up to eventually let it explode."

"Do you care what I think, or are you just saying this to sate your curiosity?" I snipped at him.

"Of course I care about what you're thinking, Killua, because I care about you,"

I, in turn, sighed aggressively, before stepping back to lean against the counter. "Fine. If you want to know what I think — and you're not going to be happy about it — so don't say I didn't warn you."

I took a deep breath, letting go of a bit of pent up anger before starting. "I was just amused at the fact you didn't think you two were going on a date. I mean seriously." I looked at him pointedly before continuing. "This girl has been living in this city for at least four months and she 'doesn't know' the city. That's a load of bullshit, and frankly, I'm surprised you're even buying it. This girl is trying to get in your pants or whatever you want to call it."

And with that, I looked straight ahead and closed my eyes, trying to prevent myself from starting to yell, maybe to stop speaking, but it felt like a hatch had been opened and it wasn't going to close until most of whatever was falling out was out. "And if you want to know it all. I think you don't deserve her and whatever she has to offer. From what you've told me she's abrasive, angry, and just can't handle people who enjoy life — like you. She seems to just be an asshole and only wants you to be her little purse poodle to show off to her friends. In the end, she'll be the one to drop you once you become too worn out and boring for her. When it's all said and done, a relationship between the two of you won't last and you'll be left with what from this relationship? Probably a broken heart and nothing but wasted time. I say you should just have never even considered it in the first place."

And our dorm became quiet once I stopped talking. I could feel the embarrassment and the regret filling my body and I just want to curl up into a ball and hide. Great, now I'm being an asshole and Gon's going to get angry with me for being a horrible person and he'll probably get me to apologize to the bitch who doesn't even know who I am.

"Do you think that?" Gon asked quietly, eyes trained on me.

I looked up at him to see him looking at me with an amused smile. "Yes, I do. And like I said before, if you didn't like my opinion, you shouldn't have asked for it."

And then Gon chuckled a bit at my defensiveness before reaching his hand out and ruffling my hair. "That's not it. I just thought It was interesting."

I swatted his hand away, but he reacted faster grabbing my wrist and migrating his hand down to hold my hand. I choked a bit at the affection, confused by it. "How... how so?"

He smirked. "I don't just that it was your opinion, and I can see the truth in it. To be honest, out of the two of us, you're much better at reading people. I mean, you haven't even met her and you already have an opinion on her. Maybe the opinion is a bit harsh from never having a conversation with her, but it's an opinion, nonetheless. It's interesting, to say the least. But it's nice to have heard another side. I've asked Leorio and Kurapika about this plenty of times and each time they say that she probably does want it to end up being a date and that I should try it. It's nice to hear the cynical side of things."

"Well," I said with a nervous smirk painting my face. "I'm always here to offer a cynical insight to, like, everything in existence."

"Oh, and It's also funny to see you jealous,"

And I couldn't breathe, I felt my eyes widen a bit and I tried to pull my hand back from Gon's hold, but he didn't let me. I could feel my heart pounding as I schooled my expression and raised an eyebrow at Gon, trying to form my expression into that of mock anger, hoping he'd ignore my split second of surprise.

"I'm not jealous," I said in a soft voice — definitely not what I was going for. I tried again to pull my hand away, but Gon just held on little tighter.

Humming he pushed back a loose strand of my hair while smiling softly at me. "Sure your not. I mean, if I was in your position, I know I'd be jealous. I'd get to spend less time with my favorite person."

My eyes widened with disbelief and not a declaration of the jealousy or whatever the hell he was trying to say. "I'm your favorite person?" I asked in a timid voice, something I couldn't recognize coming from my mouth. It sounded so foreign to me.

At this, Gon frowned and looked at me with concern. "Yeah, I mean, there's no one, else." He paused before starting to rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand. "Did you not know that?"

I opened my mouth but closed it when I felt a small swell of a choke in my throat and I used my other hand to cover my mouth. I felt like I was unraveling right then and there and I didn't know how to handle it. I felt my eyes getting wet and my throat clenching up with sheer emotion. Not only had I been deemed as someone's favorite person, but I was Gon's favorite person, and there were no words to express just how important that was to me.

"Shit, Killua," Gon whispered before he pulled me forward into one of those hugs where it feels so heavy but the light at the same time. The ones where time stands still and the world just feels like it's right, for once.

It didn't take me long to fist the front of his shirt and pull myself in closer, as close as I could get.

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew that. I'm sorry—"

"No," I squawked a bit, moving my hands wrap around him. "Don't... there's no reason to apologize. I'm just." I stopped talking for a second, trying to keep those stupid tears from my eyes and so far I was succeeding. "I'm really happy."

Gon laughed softly at me before he turned his head and kissed the top of my head and I just felt euphoria wash over me, sighing and allowing myself to just melt a bit more into the hug.

It was like that for a few seconds before Gon made a questioning sound and I moved a bit to look at him. "So, am I your favorite person?"

I laughed, one of those ridiculously big smiles falling on my face. "Of course. It's not even a question, you giant lug."

"Good,"

And somehow, at some time, we finally let go of each other and just allowed ourselves to continue with our day but smiles were wide on our faces and the dorm just felt a bit more filled with energy.

—————————

Currently, Gon was sitting on the floor of our living room, hunched over our little coffee table trying to get the last little details down of his assignment due to his bio class. It was some sort of plant research essay, which he had chosen to do on a plant indigenous to Whale Island. A good idea at its core, but we all need to remember that Gon isn't necessarily the best when it comes to essay writing or summative assessments in general. Don't get me wrong, Gon is practically a genius when it comes to biology and just life in general, but the sheer mass of knowledge he has about such subjects just gets stunted when he has to wow people with his writing rather than his verbal word.

"Be careful of your parallel structure. You can't have 'This plant has large leaves for photosynthesis and to be able to blend into its environment.' You either have to change the part after and to a noun or change photosynthesis into a descriptive sentence. It doesn't flow as nicely." I informed him while pointing to the sentence that Gon had just finished writing.

He let out a small whine before falling back into the couch. "This is annoying, I don't know about parallel sentences, how to properly form adverbs and nouns and all that shit."

I could help but feel amused by Gon, taking it upon myself to just go ahead and edit it for him. So I leaned over and grabbed his laptop, scrolling through the essay and reading. I became absorbed in reading his essay, which was much better then many I had edited in my days. It was just the grammar and the sentence structure that needed work, but when is anyone ever great at it?

"It's much better than your last one," I whispered as I continue to mumble the essay under my breath, trying to catch any mistakes. "It's a major improvement."

And, yet again, there was an exasperated sigh from Gon. "Well, the last one was a social essay. Funnily enough, I don't care too much about government scandals from twenty years ago."

"Touche,"

After that, there were a few more seconds before I finally finished revising his essay, giving it back to him so that he could attach what he needed to the document and send it on his online classroom to his teacher.

And we sat silently, enjoying each other's presence for a bit until there was a loud pounding on our door. I groaned, getting up from the couch to open the door, only to see good old short Chi standing at the door with a sheepish smile.

"Hi Chi. I didn't expect to see you today," I said before moving out of the way and allowing her to enter the apartment.

"Hello, Killua,"

"Hey Chi," Gon said from the living room, currently standing up and sorting his notes.

"Seriously Gon? All I get is a 'hey Chi.' I expect hugs," she sighed in fake annoyance before she crossed the living room and opened her arms. Gon, with an amused smile, hugged her back before letting go. I still stood at the door, a little annoyed for being pretty near blown off.

"I see you're going with green hair this week,"

Chi laughed and gave him a small slap before she turned back to me and held out her bag. "So, Killua. I left most of my assignments till now because I didn't understand them —"

"You mean you were procrastinating," I asked before crossing my arms, looking behind her to Gon who just shook his head and mouthed 'good luck' before disappearing into his room.

"You know what I mean, Killua. Anyways, help me." So, being the amazing friend I am, I waved her over to the coffee table and we sat down going over the assignments she was given.

Funnily enough, because we had only four kids in our class, Bisky was able to cater assignments and the course to us so we were all able to improve in our abilities in the areas we needed help.

"So, you went through and added revisions to this music, right?" I asked while flipping through the sheet music.

She nodded before pointing to one thing on the music and sighing. "This is what's messing me up though. She wants me to 'annotate' it. How the hell do you annotate music?"

Scouring over the music for a little bit longer, already knowing what she needs to do. I tried to find the best way to describe it. "She wants you to find the meaning behind this. Like the theme. I'd suggest listening to the actual music and then thinking of three or four keywords to describe the song. Then, go through it and find the points in which each word because emphasized and write why."

Her eyes widened before she slapped her head and fell backward letting out a cross between a shout and a groan. "For god's sake, why did' I realize that sooner? It makes so much sense now. Ughh, you're a lifesaver Killua."

"I know," I said through a laugh while stacking the music back up, looking at the clock to see the time was 4:30 pm.

Almost like he was cued, Gon walked out with a stack of clothes and walked over to the bathroom. "Hey, Killua. You should start getting ready."

"Sure thing," I responded, putting the papers to the side, standing up and stretching out my limbs.

"Where are you going?" Chi asked, a curious tone in her voice.

Gon smiled before entering the bathroom and exiting quickly without his pile of clothes. "I was able to convince Killua to go clubbing with me." He then crossed the room, a smirk evident on his face as if he knew he was stirring up chaos.

I swear I heard Chi's neck snap as she looked over at me. "You're going clubbing and you didn't tell me?"

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal," I answered, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Kind of is," Gon said one last time finally entering the bathroom and locking it, leaving me to deal with Chi.

"Of course it is, Killua. Everyone's first club experience is something to cherish," SHe said while stuffing her papers into her bag then opening another pocket. "And you, my little introverted sluggy friend are finally going out of your way to take that stick out of your ass and have fun."

"Not sure how much fun drinking till you blackout is—"

"And the worst part is you didn't tell me. God, when are you going?" She asked, still rummaging through her bag.

Needless to say, I had become passive to her excitement, just wanting her to chill out and maybe leave so I could get ready. "Around 5:45 ish. Gon wants to make happy hour."

"Ugh, that only gives me an hour-ish," she groaned before standing up and almost charging into my room.

"What do you mean only gives you an hour?" I asked as I followed her into my room, not realizing it was a trap until she shut my door and stood in front of it.

"It only gives me an hour to get you ready,"

"Chi," I sighed, before rolling my eyes and walking towards my door. "I can full well get myself ready, we both know this."

"Yes, you're a grown man and all that shit you're going to spew. But you're also shy little boring shit who's going to dress in jeans and sweater and be done with it."

I gave him my get-on-with-it face, which was also my make-this-interesting-or-else face.

"So, I'm going to make sure you look like the little hoe you are, somewhere inside there,"

I felt the blood race to my face. My eyebrows creased together as I glared down at her expecting her to explain well and to explain fast or this might be the last time I talked to her. The look didn't work so well, because she just started smiling wickedly before she opened up her bag and pulled out a bunch of smaller ones, dumping them onto my bed and leaving me to stare at the massive amounts of makeup.

"Chi, we're not doing this," I said with a weak voice before I was hushed.

Chi obnoxious hushing washed over the room before she took a deep breath. She then looked at me and shook her head. "I know you might be against it and you'll feel weird about it, but, despite what you might think, dressing up a little risky and looking like a fuckable snacc is a good thing... a really good thing. It'll boost your self-esteem because you'll be looking like a snacc. No one will not want to smack that."

I furrowed my eyebrows one more time before she sighed. "Okay, just let me do it and if it's too much, then I'll take it off and you can wear whatever the hell you want." She stuck out her hand. "Deal?"

Was it a deal? I mean, it was kind of weird to think about really dressing up, but not in a formal way, just making myself look more 'desirable' as Chi had so blatantly put it. It could be nice, maybe it'll be weird but I always did wonder what it would be like to let someone who could do makeup and dress properly get a handle on my appearance for a night.

"I promise you know who will wanna fuck you," she said with a mischievous smile before jabbing a thumb and gestured towards the wall where the bathroom was across from.

And as all the blood rushed to my face and I glared at her, I made a decision. "Don't say anything like that again and we have a deal."

With that, we shook on it and my life was in the hands of this green-haired manic I call a friend.

Gon POV (AN: Sorry for splitting POV in the middle of a chapter)

It was verging on 5:30 and I really wanted to get going but Killua was still in his room and I could hear the distinctive giggling of the infamous Chi on the other side of the room. Had I may be encouraged Chi with a bit of non-explicit taunting by mentioning the club and just being a bit supportive... maybe, but it was going to be interesting to see what happened.

Originally, the plan was just to get Chi to come because she did do a bit of teasing that seemed to get Killua to loosen up. We were both a good effect on Killua like that, both helping his become less straightened and just to relax — though Chi seemed to do it by trying to anger Killua more than I had ever seen anyone. Great fun!

But it ended with this. Chi doing up Killua's appearance from what I heard when she ran out of the dorm for like fifteen minutes, yelling at Killua to — in her words — 'stay put or else she would spill every secret he had ever told her over the university speakers.' Killua never once did try to leave his room, and when she came back, the soft sound of conversation continued to float form the room.

Now I was starting to get nervous as time ticked down and either had yet to come out, but then the door to Killua's room opened and I heard a sigh that sounded just so done with life.

"I still had no idea how you convinced me to do this," Killua said as Chi left the room and smiled at me.

"Well, it doesn't matter, you've only got fifteen minutes till 5:45, so you better decide if you're keeping it or not," she looked at me and a light bulb seemed to go off in her brain before she turned around and looked into the room. "How about you get Gon to give his opinion. Ya know, be the deciding vote."

It then went silent and Chi just continued to cock her head a few times before mouthing something at him stepping back into the room. Eventually, a loud groan was heard and I saw a familiar head of white hair came into view — but the rest was not anything I had been expecting.

His outfit consisted of bright red high top converse, something I was used to seeing but on his long legs was black ripped jeans, but the rips in them were larger than normal, showing off the milky skin underneath them. The rips were plentiful and went up a little past his mid-thigh, the jeans stopping at his mid-waist. But the outright sex appeal of the jeans had seemed to satisfy Chi. Not at all.

Somehow from somewhere — most likely Chi — Killua had obtained fishnet stockings which you could see peeking through the rips and the fishnet rode up past his jeans and higher until they disappeared underneath a long-sleeved red crop top with two large black stripes up the arms.

Around his neck was a simple black leather choker and it finally leads up to his face. It wasn't obvious, but Chi had somehow made his face look completely blown out. His eyes looked larger, the blue tone looking almost like it was misty, and his lips had some sort of gloss on them. As for his hair, his bangs had been parted further to the right so that they showed off his often hidden forehead and the rest of his hair was left to its own devices.

And what the hell? Since when did Killua have piercings?

I stood speechless for a bit before Cho exited his room and smiled at me. "See, Gon likes it, don't you?"

I could only nod as I continued to stare at this Killua. I was used to the soft sweaters and the sweatpants on lazy days. Never had I expected to see him walking around my apartment like some sort of sex god.

I swallowed before I gathered myself to smile. "I think it's really cute,"

Cute? What the hell Gon?

But it didn't matter because Killua just blushed before he sighed and turned around and went back into his room, emerging with a black leather jacket — the one I had given him yesterday — and putting it on. "We should probably get going if you want to make happy hour," Killua said quietly, which concerned me. It could've been for many reasons, but I could feel the nervousness flowing off him in waves.

"Okay then, have fun boys," Chi said, leaving the apartment, and us, without another word.

So here we were left as long as I finally put on my shoes and grabbed my wallet. I raised my head to see Killua looking in the hallway mirror, picking a bit at his shirt.

"If you're worried about if you look good," I started before walking up behind him and patting his hair. "I'm considering just not letting you go because you look too good."

It was worth admitting the truth to see the smile on Killua's face before he gave me a once over, turning around, and coughing into his fist. "You don't look too shabby, mister baggy jeans and tee." He then tugged a bit on my shirt before letting go with a teasing smile.

I don't know what came over me. I usually had some sort of come back to his teasing that would make him flush up and revert to his little adorable self, I couldn't think of one. And I was okay with it. I liked the bit of leading on the Killua was doing right now.

"We should get going," he practically whispered before opening the door and allowing me to walk through first.

And I walked out, waiting for him to turn around and lock the door, trying desperately to not look where my eyes wanted to go — I'll leave that to your imagination.

As we descended the stairs and began to trudge towards the club, I grabbed Killua's, squeezing his hand, which was almost instantaneously returned.

"So, is it just Kurapika and Leorio we're meeting up with?" Killua asked, starting to swing our hands back and forth.

"I think so. They might have invited a few people. It's an open invite, so anyone who's heard of it might come," I responded, following along with his swinging.

He only nodded in response staring straight ahead and watching the people passing us on the street. It was quite like that between us until we reached the club. The deafening bass shaking through the building as we passed through the main entrance and entered, dropping our coats off at the coat desk. I could already feel the sweat beginning to drip down my back and the smell of booze and bodily fluids didn't help.

Killua grabbed onto my arm and held himself close, obviously guarding himself against the unknowns of the club — which were plentiful.

"How about we get something in you. It'll help you... settle into the atmosphere,' I yelled over the music, only gaining a confused look with a short nod from Killua before we headed over to the bar and sat on the stools.

"What do you want?" I asked, choosing to whisper in his ear instead of yelling over the music.

It was a better way of communicating because Killua looked up at the bar menu then leaned over my shoulder.

"I think I'll just go with strawberry lemonade vodka," he whispered into my ear and I couldn't help but shiver a bit with his hot breath against my ear. I waved down the bartender, trying to ignore the shivers and order the vodka for Killua and a good old classic beer for me.

In little time, we not only had a tab open for the night, but we also had drinks in our hand and a booth to call our own as we waited for Leorio and Kurapika to show up.

"So, is it okay." Since we had found a booth further back, the music wasn't as intense so we could talk normally.

Shrugging in response, Killua took another sip from the straw. "I mean, it's okay. I've never really liked the taste of alcohol, but the lemonade drowns it out."

I chuckled at him before leaning back and taking a sip of my beer. "Well, have as many as you want, I promise you won't end up in an alley somewhere."

Killua smiled at that before he took a larger sip of his drink and situated himself a bit more in the booth. "So, I was going to ask, but never got around to it," he started before taking one more sip then looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"Well, are you going to take Ella on a date or what?"

I stopped and pondered on it for a bit. Yes, nice girl, but not to Killua. On the other side of things was Killua and... maybe I was starting to see something in him I hadn't considered before. I was still trying to decide.

"No," I finally supplied for an answer. "I'm going to cancel it probably. I was just doing it to be nice and you raised some good points today."

Killua's eyebrow lifted. "You know, just because I said something doesn't make it true. She could be a really sweet girl. If you wanted to take her out on a date, it's fine with me."

"Is it?" I said before thinking and I saw Killua do the same thing he had done earlier. He seized up and started to tug on the end of his sleeves.

"Gon—" he started softly, looking at me with something in his eyes I couldn't put my finger on. But, he never got around to saying it before both Leorio and Kurapika slide into the other side of the booth.

"Well, how's the great pair of 504?" Leorio asked before down his beer, almost emptying it in one go.

"Great," I answered for both of us while Killua looked down at Leorio's beer with disbelief on his face. It was odd to think that Killua was, in fact, very experienced when it came down to drinking... and anything else that could be classified as a young adult activity.

Leorio took another swig before pointing over at us. "We almost couldn't find you two because Kurapika and I were debating on whether or not it was the two of you. Like, we saw Killua's white hair, but Kurapika kept saying it wasn't him from the way he was dressed."

"That was Chi's fault," Killua said before taking another sip of his drink, leaning forward on the table.

"I don't think it's a mistake," I said, which gained a small blush from Killua.

"Same here," Kurapika started, swirling around his drink, which was probably a gin and tonic. A Kurapika classic.

"Thanks," Killua mumbled softly before looking out into the sea of people.

"Anyways," Leorio started moving away from the subject and smiling at me. "How was your aunt? It's been a while since I've last heard from her."

"She doing great. She told me to tell you to keep studying because she's interesting for you to be her doctor when she's old,"

At this, the whole table laughed a bit and the evening seemed to hit it off from there. The drinks start flowing. I only had two beers before calling it and slowly sipping on a third. Kurapika was on a steady gin and tonic ride until the fourth one, tipsy enough to explore, he came back from his turn of grabbing around with a 'sex on the beach' and that went from there. Leorio, forever the classic masculine man, kept with his beers. As for Killua, pretty much anything that fell under the category of sweet was once in his hands.

In the end, both Leorio and I pulled short straws and ended up being the designated 'drivers', left to deal with the emotional drunk Kurapika who was whiney about how hard his classes hard and he could hardly pick up a book, or something along those lines. Leorio ended up dealing with him, seeing as I had Killua attached to my hip.

Both Killua and I, before tonight, had been completely unaware of what kind of drunk he was, and I had now concluded that he was both the best and worst type of drunk to deal with. After about his second drink he got really quiet, only chiming into conversations here and there, and around drink four, he was cuddling onto me. A literal koala bear.

"Seems like you got a little clinger there," Leorio laughed after Kurapika had wandered off to the bathroom.

I only sighed in response before I took a small sip of my beer and wrapped my arm around Killua's waist, who now had his legs thrown over my lap, almost sitting completely on top of me.

"Yeah, but it's better than a runner," I said pointedly at Leorio — who himself was a runner — only laughing at my attack and then looked at Killua.

"Do you want something else to drink, Killua?" He asked at Killua, who had been swirling his straw in his drink. He looked up at Leorio, who choked a bit. "The hell is those puppy eyes doing?" he whispered to himself before Killua responded.

"No," Killua slurred before a small hiccup left his mouth. "It's really loud though," he said before leaning back and taking the hand I had wrapped around his waist, beginning to play with my fingers.

I flipped my phone over to look at the time. "It's 11 right now. Do you want to go home?" I asked Killua, who looked up at me and nodded, scooting off of me and then looking over at Leorio.

Now, the surprising thing was that he slid into Leorio's side of the both and wrapped him into a hug. Leorio froze up and we exchanged a look with each, both a bit frightened. Leorio ended up pat Killua's head until Killua let go and stood by my side, leaning against me for support.

At that moment Kurapika exited the bathroom, looking a little lost as he arrived at the booth.

"We're leaving now, Kurapika," I said to him, only earning a bit of a teary-eyed look with a curt nod.

"Ok," he whined out, upset by us leaving. And, like the little clinger he was, Killua wrapped Kurapika into a hug, who returned it full force and cried about how he should get hugged more because he felt so unloved without the hugs.

"Okay, Killua," I said grabbing onto his arm and removing him from Kurapika. He only waved back at them as we exited the club, paying our half of the tab and getting our coats.

It was a bit colder than when we had left, but not enough that I felt the need to put on my coat but Killua stopped me outside when I didn't put it on.

"Why," a short hiccup. "Why aren't you putting on your coat? You'll get a cold,"

I couldn't help but laugh, but Killua then attempted, in his stumbly way to put it on. I eventually concede to his unspoken request and put it on.

We walked for a bit before I decided to make conversation. "So, you're not that bad of a drunk. How are you feeling?"

"Tried... a bit of a headache," he mumbled, wrapped up tightly to my arm.

"I see. We'll just get you something for that when we get home. Maybe a bit of water," I said before pushing his hair out of his eyes.

We walked for a bit more before Killua resumed the conversation. "Thanks for taking me out," he muttered and I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"No problem. We can do this more often if you want?"

"No. it's too loud and the alcohol tastes bad." I laughed a little bit louder, Killua pushing his face into my arm as if he was trying to get away from the noise. "Shhh, to loud Gon. Not now."

I put a hand over my mouth to quiet myself and I smiled as Killua hummed, his steps becoming a bit messy before he tugged on my sweater.

I hummed in question before he stopped and looked up at me with hazy eyes, his pupils bigger than normal, giving him that puppy eye. "Carry me," he whined a bit, and I couldn't resist him even if I tried. I crouched down and allowed him to climb up my back. Once we were both comfortable, I started walking and it would've been fine if Killua hadn't put his face into my neck, soft hot air blowing against my neck. I almost ended up dropping him but ended up catching myself just in time and finally stepped into the dorms.

I decide to take the elevator instead of the stairs to save a bit of time then walked down to our room, unlocking it entering and closing the door behind me.

"Killua?"

I gained a sot hum in reply.

"I'm going to put you down now," I whispered.

"Noooo. I don't wanna Gon," he whined and I sighed, respecting his request and walking till we were in his room, and I slowly set him down on his bed. He eventually let go once he understood what was going on.

I stood up and went on leave when Killua softly cried at me and I turned around and crouched by his side. "I'm just going to get some stuff for you, get into some pj's, okay."

He pouted at me, grabbing onto the hand I set down on the bed, playing with my fingers for a bit before signing and letting go. "Don't belong Gon," he mumbled.

With that, I got up and went about my business, making sure to take my time so Killua wouldn't be naked when I walked in.

After about ten minutes, I walked back into his room to see him lying starfish on his bed, just in a tee shirt like last night. He had seemed to have enough mind to remove his makeup and was looking aimlessly at the ceiling.

I knocked on the door, watching as his head jerked over to look at me, a small smile breaking out onto his face. He sat up as I walked in and crouched in front of him, handing him the pill, which he took without any hesitation and drank the whole glass of water.

"Okay, you should go to bed now," I whispered, jerking my head to the side as if to tell him to lay down.

That's when I felt a cold hand wrap around my neck and looked up to see Killua looking down at me with conviction. I couldn't tell what was going on for a second until Killua leaned down and pressed his forehead against mine, his other hand coming up to loop around my neck.

I could feel the air between us increase in temperature and the smell of sweet substances and alcohol flood my nose. Killua licked his lips before trailing one of his hands down the side of my arm, tugging me forward a bit, a playful smirk flashing across his lips for a few seconds before his expression morphed into one of desire and uncertainty. He opened his mouth for a quick second, before thinking a little bit longer confidence beginning to radiate from his frame.

"Please fuck me, Gon,"

My heart pounded and everything just seemed to become surreal. I could feel everything going on around me. I was so aware of our situation and all too aware of what Killua was asking from me. The sad, or maybe confusing is a better word, the part about this is that, somewhere in me, I wanted to.

I softly shook my head, reaching both my hands out to find Killua's and hold them in front of me. "No Killua—"

"Why not," he whined, squeezing my hands hard. "Why don't you want to? Do you think I won't be good enough because I'm a virgin or something because I'll prove you wrong, Gon. I promise."

My eyes widened a bit at what he said. "No, it's because you're drunk Killua. Your judgment's impaired. It'd be different if you were sober."

"You'd do it if I was sober?" He asked, obviously peeked at the notion.

I nodded before smiling. "Probably take you to dinner or something first. Treat you right."

And, maybe it was just me thinking too much, but Killua looked to sober up a bit at that. "Really?"

"Maybe," I teased, brushing some hair out of his face. "But you'll have to ask when you're sober. Okay?"

He then nodded furiously, causing a little bit of burning against my forehead.

"Now get some rest," I whispered, pulling my head back and giving him a soft kiss on the top of his head.

But it seemed those words fell on deaf ears because Killua was already knocked out, eyes closed and all his weight leaned against me. I allowed myself a smile before I pulled back his covers and slowly shuffled him in.

I ended the night by putting a glass of water beside his bed and then making my way into my room and readying myself for bed.

I began to ponder my words. Was I truthful? Killua was my best friend, my favorite person as I had declared today. But was that it. Was that all I wanted? Not because just thinking of Killua as mine, being able to kiss him and have all those secret little smiles and hugs to myself was something I never knew I wanted until now. So maybe it was time I started to think about it a little bit more. Maybe it was time I started to put a label onto my feelings and fix them in a certain spot.

That's the least Killua deserved, and it was the most I could give.


	15. Chapter 15

When I woke up, I had a pounding headache, and I'm not sure what else I had expected. I mean, I drank what could only be described as a shit ton. Still, the headache was a fucking pain and I hated my past self for ever doing this to myself.

I curled further into my covers, trying to shield my face from the sun that was beaming down right on my head. Like, excuse me sun, could you be less of a bitch?

Not.

So, giving up on trying to get any last ounce of sleep, I slowly sat up in bed, only to feel the once slightly bearable headache become insanely painful. Kinda like a gun going off in my head, but less bloody and more along the side of makes you wanna kill yourself more than an actual gun killing you.

I looked around to see, that I was in my room, which was a plus, meant Gons tuck to his word and I was completely intact. And during my little observation period, I looked over at my desk to see a glass of water, two pills, and a note.

And, with on swift brave step, I stood up from my bed and walked over to the desk, sitting down to read the note.

Hey, I just woke up before you

so I got you some meds. Take the

two of them and drink the whole

glass of water. Promise it'll help.

Gon

Following the instructions I was given, I took the pills and drank all of the water. And after, I didn't feel it work instantly like I thought it would, but I suppose that was too much wishful thinking. So I took the plunge and walked out of my room, only to be greeted by another ray of sun that was much too bright.

Over on the couch sat Gon, who was watching a show while drinking his tea, what he usually did every morning, and I couldn't help but smile as I walked towards the kitchen and began my coffee.

"Good morning, Killua~," Gon said a bit too chirpy for in the morning, but I couldn't be angry at him.

I only grunted a bit, not feeling like making my vocal cords work while I finally rested against the counter, awaiting my coffee. I could still feel the nasty pounding of the headache but being around helped a bit with the pain.

I watched Gon as he shook his head at me, getting off of the couch and walking over to the small kitchen. As he round the counter, he set down his mug and brought his hand up to my head, resting it's back against my forehead.

"It doesn't seem like you got a fever, which is good. Just hungover it seems." At his oh so insightful observation, I couldn't help but blow out a puff of air and roll my eyes a bit, only to be hit with some more head pounding.

"Major hangover," I mumbled, grasping my head tightly with my hands, my ears detecting the soft laugh that Gon was radiating.

"I stand corrected,"

"As you should be," I rubbed at my eyes, yawning a bit before looking over at my coffee to see it was done. Without hesitation, I grabbed a mug and filled it with the coffee, dumping in a shit ton of sugar and cream. And once I brought the sweet nectar to my lips and took a sip, I let out a sigh of relief and finally was able to relax. "About damn time."

"So," Gon began as he rounded the island and sat at the stools, holding his tea mug in his hands again. "Do you remember much from last night."

I paused. I couldn't remember much about last night. I just remembered a whole lot of drinking, sweet tastes, loud noises, a bit of chatter I didn't participate in. I could only remember clearly up to where I had my fourth drink, then it was all a big blur.

"No, I don't recall much after my fourth drink. But, it doesn't matter. You got me home safe so that's all I care about." Which was true, so long as Gon got me home and wasn't asking weird around me, it was okay. That means that my drunk self didn't do too much damage.

I looked back at Gon who was giving me a curious look. "So, just kinda blurry after that? Nothing comes to mind?"

Okay. That's odd that he was asking again.

"Yeah, just a blur—" Gon raised an eyebrow and then looked away, a blush on his face.

Wait, a blush. Gon never blushes. The only time I've ever seen him blush was when he was drunk and was just being stupid. Why was he blushing?

Shit, I did something.

"Did I do something?" I asked with caution. I knew this might be hard to get out of Gon. I could feel the impending dread of what I did start to creep up on me.

What did I do? I searched through the blur to figure it out but was coming up with nothing so far. The bar was clean, I remember that the most. So probably something at home.

"Well..."

"Shit, what did I do?" My breathing started to race as I rushed through my memories. I must've done something embarrassing because Gon was giving me that endearing smile he gives to Leorio when he's being stupid — which is more often than not — but I'm never on the receiving sides of these smiles.

"Nothing too bad. If you remember we'll talk about it." He finished the end of his sentence quieter than the beginning, which meant there must've been some serious undertone to it.

I stood completely tense in the middle of the kitchen looking at Gon. Well, fuck my life. There are so many embarrassing and 'talk worthy' things I could've brought up, so I couldn't place a finger on it. Shit.

And as I was about to ask a question, Gon got up out of his seat, leaving his mug behind and smiled at me. "Get dressed and I'll take you out to breakfast. Give you a bit of a carbo-load so that you can get over this hangover quick." With that, he had gone to his room and left me stewing; wondering what mayhem I could've caused.

With the door closed, I rounded the counter and sat down on the stool, staring aimlessly into my coffee. I raced through my memory, sorting through all the fog.

What the hell did I do?

Maybe I said something?

If so, then what did I say?

Then my mind went completely blank for a second.

And it came back.

"Please fuck me Gon,"

All the blood rushed to my face, my eyes widening excessively as my headache slowly subsided.

I let out a shriek and everything went pitch black for a short while. I'm pretty sure I fell in the time, maybe because of the lack of consciousness, because next thing I knew, I was on the floor, the stool lying down in front of me and there was a shooting pain in my back. I looked around, holding my head for a bit. My coffee mug had been knocked over, the coffee spilled over the counter and slowly dripping onto the floor.

Gon's door flew open and he raced out, by my side within a second.

I think I was getting a bit of whiplash.

"Shit Killua, are you okay,"

Blank-faced, I looked at him for a second, before I regained enough of my bearings and scooted away from him until I hit the back of the couch, panting a bit as I stared scatterbrained around the room until my eyes landed on Gon, who was giving me an extremely concerned look.

"Killua." His voice came out soft like he was calming a baby.

I felt my cheeks heating up, my body slowly curling in on myself. I raised my hands, covering my mouth and pulling at my hair.

"S-sorry," I whispered. I was outdone, completely baffled by my idiocy. I should've known that getting drunk would've ended up like this; should've known I'd make a mistake like that. How could I be so stupid? It's not like anyone's been known to hold back when they're drunk. Why'd I expected myself to hold my mouth? Gon probably thought that I was gross. Yes, that's why he was blushing. He's so embarrassed to have even known me.

Gon tilted his head to the side, "What?"

"Sorry," I repeated.

"For what?"

"I." I stopped short and looked away. God, it was embarrassing to think, much less say it aloud. "I sorry for what I said last night... The whole asking you too. You know..."

Gon went quiet, seeming to catch on to what I was trying to stutter out. And that point, we didn't say anything. I just sat on the floor, trying to avoid eye contact, but my eyes kept landing onto Gons. I couldn't look away from the intensity in his eyes, that was both overwhelming but warm and welcoming.

"You don't need to apologize for that. Is that all you remember," he asked quietly, reaching his hand out, placing it on my knee. His thumb slowly began to rub my knee and I could feel the panic slowly leaving me.

"I mean," I looked up at him and swallowed. "I just remember that... and then a blur... then sleeping. After that, I have no idea. But, I'm sorry about it."

At that, Gon began laughing loudly. His head was thrown back and he was smiling so widely I found myself caught up in that smile.

"You're too cute Killua," he laughed out harder. As his laugh finally started to fade out and he wiped away his tears, he reached his hand out to me and set his hand onto my cheek.

My heart stopped.

"If you don't remember it well enough I'll fill you in." With that, he stood up, then offered a hand for me. I slowly looked at him, then I cautiously took his hand. Standing up we both looked at each other. "Well, I got you home, like I promised, so big props to me. But, then when I came back from getting you water, well... That's when you asked—"

I slapped a hand over his mouth looking down at the floor, suddenly noticing that I was just in a tee shirt and underwear, that's it. I could feel the embarrassment racing around my body— well, more than before.

He took my hand off of his mouth, then held it close to his chest. "Again, you're cute."

"Stop talking, you're being embarrassing Gon," I whined.

"So you don't want to know what I told you after,"

I opened my mouth to respond, but the proposition of knowing was too much. It's probably from being around Gon too much but I could feel the curiosity creeping.

"I'll take that as a yes. Well." Gon pulled at my hand, causing me to crash into his chest. My forehead almost slammed into his chin if it wasn't for his other hand grasping at my chin and looking at me.

He leaned forward, his mouth resting right beside my ear.

"I think I remember saying something about if you'd asked again." His hand slowly moved down my back, until it settled onto my back. "I'd consider,"

My knees began to grow weak, my eyes trained onto his shoulder, watching as he moved back, his face played with a smirk. I looked up at him, and I'm pretty sure that my eyes were shaking, quite possibly dilated as well.

"Well?" Gon asked, hand slowly rubbing at my forearm.

What the hell did he mean? He'd consider.

"Gon," I mumbled, before taking a step back, breaking out of his hold, but not so far that he hadn't dropped his hands. "I—"

I looked down and brought my hands up to hug myself a bit. "Gon, you wouldn't want that."

Finally, the first full sentence in the last few minutes, but I'm not sure if it was what I needed to say.

"And how would you know what I want?"

I was silent, not sure what to say in response.

"I probably worded it wrong. But I told you that if you asked me when you were sober, I'd take you out for dinner... then we'd see."

"You serious?"

This seriously couldn't be happening.

"Of course." Gon reached for my hand, bringing it up to look at it a bit. "I've been thinking about it for a while. It's just kinda been on the back burner of my mind. I'm interested in you... interested actually. And I'll take you out on a date." He paused for a second, snapping out of his trance, and a wild blush racing up onto his face. "Only if you want to. I could be reading too far into it. If so, then we can just write it off as a joke for the fu—"

"No!" I shouted at him grasping at his hand tightly. "I..." I dropped my head and looked down at the floor for a while before groaning.

Honestly, I couldn't believe just what the hell was happening. How long was it ago that I had convinced myself that it was fine to just be friends with him and to just be by his side until I couldn't. I had convinced it was all this relationship was meant for, all it would be. And here he was, asking me out. My brain was malfunctioning and I couldn't think straight and damn it, I'm not going to let it go. Not when it's right in front of me.

"Damn it,"

Somehow, my brain went into override and the next thing I knew my eyes were closed and my lips were on Gons. The kiss was weird at first, mainly because I had never kissed anyone and Gon was shocked. It was more of just the placing of lips onto another. But then it morphed into something else, something that I would expect to be a kiss. It felt so real, it felt like I was floating for a second.

After a few seconds, one of Gon's hand fell onto my waist, another settling at the top of my back. I was shaking like a leaf, my hands resting on his shoulders, grasping tightly at his shirt. And then we pulled away.

Our foreheads rested against each other, our breaths intermingling together. We looked at each other for a while before a wide smile broke out onto my face. Gon copied my smile and I couldn't stop the small laugh that left my mouth before I quickly kissed him again.

"So, is that a yes Killua?" Gon asked, his tone traced with humor, his hands running up my sides until they clasped my cheeks, his thumb slowly rubbing.

"Yeah," I whispered, reaching up to hold both of his hands. "Yeah, I'd really... Really would like to."

"Good. Now, next Saturday, you better have no plans. Then I'll take you out on the best date ever, in the world, and then...." Gon paused, bring our clasped hands up to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. "We'll talk a little bit at the dorm?"

"You have no idea how much I wanna hit you right now," I said before I softly punched him in the shoulder. "You big lug."

Gon smiled so brightly at me while letting me go and letting out a soft sigh. "So, not so shaken anymore. Calmed down?"

I shook my head while laughing. "Not at all. Pretty sure I'll be shaking like a crack addict all week. Probably will get worse as Saturday gets closer." It felt nice to admit it.

"Well, I'll try to help calm your nerves, so let's go get something to eat. Sound good?"

"Yes,"

————————————

As of current, we were sitting across each other in a booth, Gon sipping on a green tea, whilst I drank some hot chocolate, still trembling a bit from earlier. I couldn't stop smiling, and Gon seemed to be in the same boat as I was. It was kinda nice to see him blush when we'd make eye contact. It was nice actually.

Well, I mean, if it wasn't for a nagging question.

"So, how long?" I finally asked, staring straight at my hot chocolate.

"Hmmm, about a week or two ago. That's when I started thinking about, I suppose." I nodded after, feeling my heart drop a bit, starting to realize that maybe I should think about this a little bit more.

I wasn't expecting Gon to be as deep as I was, but, then again nobody was as deep as I was. I had been here since the beginning, and I didn't realize it until about a month after and, holy shit, I probably would sound insane if I was saying this outside.

At that moment, Gon said something, but it passed right through my head.

"What?"

"I asked you how long?"

I paused, feeling scared for a second because at that moment I didn't know what to do. I could try going the route where I just said it all and confessed to being completely and utterly infatuated with him for two months — probably a bit longer, but I don't feel like counting. Or, there's always the option of pretending I didn't. But now I was overthinking it and I could tell that Gon was starting to notice.

"Hey? You good KIllua," he asked before reaching across the table and taking my hand, rubbing the back of my hand. "If that makes you uncomfortable to answer, you don't have to. I get that this stuff is new to you. So don't worry."

"No I'm fine, it's just a little embarrassing, because..." I stopped and looked at his hand before looking back at him. I shifted a bit so that I was leaning against my palm. "I just... it's been a few..."

I stopped for a second, my cheeks heating up intensely. "A few months."

"Really?!" Gon all but shouted, and I leaned across the table and smashed a hand overtops of his mouth, blushing deeply.

"I swear to god Gon. I will smash my guitar into your head if you don't shut up." I growled a bit, before pulling away, looking out the window to the people walking the streets.

When I finally looked over at him, I felt the endearing look he was giving me radiating off of his face. "So, a few months?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, why didn't you say anything?"

I chewed at the inside of my cheeks, wringing my hair between my fingers. "Because I didn't think... you'd be interested in me."

"And why'd you think that?" Gon leaned forward and took my hands again. I was starting to pick up a recurring theme if... things went where they seemed to be heading.

I shrugged, leaning back in my seat and looking down at our hands. "Because I've never considered stuff like... this," — I did a quick vague gesture between us — "and it's just... I didn't think, ya know."

"Well, you're wrong. Interested. So, how about we head home and just chill for the afternoon."

"That sounds great,"


	16. Chapter 16

Gon POV

It was a week from when Killua and I had confessed to each other, and I wouldn't say that many things had changed between us. But Killua seemed to get embarrassed much easier... he'd also been a little more cautious around me, or at least I that's what I thought was happening.

From the conversation that Killua and I had had on Sunday, Killua had informed me that he'd liked me for a long time... much longer then I had expected him to say. He essentially admitted to liking me ever since half a month after we met, and it just blew my mind that someone would be able to keep that locked up inside. I knew that I probably would've blown up at some point from keeping all those intense feelings bottled up inside of me.

Then again, this was Killua, and he had yet to not surprise me. He was just brilliant and fantastic and it was amazing that I was going to be taking him on a date today.

And I didn't realize how nervous I was.

I mean, we had been going to classes the whole week and our finals were coming up. I was starting to stress because this was going to be the end of my first year. So, the weight of everything was starting to settle in, so I wasn't thinking much about going on a date. Plus, I had been on plenty in my lifetime, so, I'd say I was quite the master at going on dates.

But now, it was Saturday and I had finished any school work. I had gotten through the week without a scrap... and now I had to get ready to date Killua. It was starting to settle in.

Maybe it was because it was something different from what I normally did. I mean, most of the dates I had gone on had been with girls and the only date with a guy I could recall was on a double date with two girls — who'd been dating each other — so they asked me and this other guy to pose as their boyfriends. I can't remember why exactly, but it was probably because they weren't ready to come out, so I helped out. So, technically, I was on a date with the guy... but not really. But I digress.

So, once I woke up on Saturday, I felt that pit in my stomach, that nervous one, and I thought it was because this was going to be my first date with a guy... well, first legitimate date with a guy. It wasn't until I walked out of my bedroom to see Killua just casually drinking coffee while scrolling on his laptop... which seemed to be him working on an assignment.

Yeah, that's when I realized just why I was so nervous. And it was because it was going to be Killua.

I watched him for a short while, sipping his coffee and humming under his breath. He looked so peaceful and the soft glow from the morning sun was just accentuating his pale features. So beautiful.

Deciding to ignore the rapid beating of my heart, I moved to sit beside Killua at the island, making sure that our stools were loser together then they needed to be. I leaned over and rested my chin on his shoulder. I felt him tense up a bit, but relax immediately afterward. When I first started to get to know Killua, every time he tensed up — admittedly — I felt a bit offended, but now I've come to realize that the fact that Killua just lets me initiate and maintain contact with him means that he trusts me. That's all I need from him.

"Music history assignment?" I mumbled, looking at the laptop screen before towards the side of Killua's face. There was a soft blush on his face, but not enough that any besides me would realize.

"Yeah... super boring." He wrote one more sentence before he looked over at the time and humming softly in thought. He then closed the laptop, leaning his head so that it rested on mine. Taking this as an invitation to get a bit closer, I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him closer.

All week, the hugging and being comfortable with touching each other had been progressing and Gon was grateful for that. It's mainly because my 'love language' was contact — which just means that I express my love for others through contact.

At some point, after Killua seemed to settle a bit, I felt his hand rest on top of mine, and I looked up at him to see him watching where our hands rested. "What time do you want to leave?"

"Whenever is fine with me."

Killua only nodd, before he started to squirm like a restless kitten, so I let him go, only to watch as he turned around to face me directly before smiling softly and standing up. "Okay then. I'll get ready... and we can leave after you eat. Ok."

I nodded in response and watched as Killua started to walk away, but something inside of me, got me to work up the courage to do something.

"Hey wait for a second,"

Killua turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Just what are you making me wait for?"

I got up and walked over to Killua before I pulled him forward at his hips and smiling as he looked at me with a bit of a confused expression.

"I didn't get a good morning kiss."

I feel the worry build up in me at that second, because I didn't think until that moment that I may be pushing Killua too much but all my worries were expelled when Killua laughed at me before leaning forward a bit.

Immediately, I copied and we kissed each other. It was a soft kiss, and I couldn't help the satisfied hum I left out, my arms moving to wrap around his waist, feeling his arms wrap around my neck.

After a short moment, we pulled away and Killua placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Good morning, Gon."

And that was the first of our many more good mornings.


End file.
